Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (20 002 315)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 16-Dec-2020

Summary: The Council was not at fault for delaying a review of an Education, Health and Care plan, as it is permitted to do this under the Coronavirus Regulations. The Council was at fault for failing to provide the complainant with a corrected version of the plan in July 2019, but this did not cause an injustice. The Council was also at fault for failing to register a complaint about these matters, which caused an injustice it has agreed to remedy. The Council has also agreed to take steps to ensure this fault does not recur.

Royal Borough of Greenwich (20 003 831)

Statement Not upheld Special educational needs 16-Dec-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will discontinue Mrs B complaint that the Council delayed issuing her son’s final EHC Plan. This is because it is not possible to assess the extent of any injustice until the provision he should have been receiving is known. A Tribunal is currently deciding this.

Hampshire County Council (20 001 596)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 15-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains about delays in the Council’s response to her request for an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) for her daughter, inadequate educational provision in the interim and a refusal to compensate her for the money she has spent on private educational services. The Council is at fault and has caused injustice. It has agreed to pay financial remedies, to apologise and to make a service improvement.

Birmingham City Council (19 010 683)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 14-Dec-2020

Summary: Mr and Mrs X complained the Council failed to arrange alternative education for their son Y, amend his Education Health and Care plan and arrange a new school place after he was permanently excluded from school in February 2019. We find the Council was at fault for failing to review Y’s Education Health and Care plan, delaying arranging a new school place and in how it dealt with Mr and Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to pay a financial remedy to Mr and Mrs X for the uncertainty and frustration caused by its faults and to issue a final amended Education Health and Care plan without delay.

Buckinghamshire County Council (18 014 794)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 14-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs B complains the Council has not dealt with her daughter Miss X’s Special Educational Needs properly. The Council did not follow statutory timescales, did not obtain reports in time and did not deal with Mrs B safeguarding complaint properly. Mrs B incurred costs to obtain independent reports, did not receive a proper response to her complaint about safeguarding and suffered distress. Miss X’s right to appeal was delayed and she missed support. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs B, pay Mrs B £200 for her time, trouble and avoidable distress, pay Mrs B £600 for the delay and Miss X’s missed provision and £1050 for the independent reports she had to provide and review how SEND assessments requests are communicated and actioned.

Hampshire County Council (19 018 395)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 14-Dec-2020

Summary: there was fault by Hampshire County Council in its handling of X’s post 16 transfer to sixth form college from late 2018 in the form of delay. The Council also failed to make the speech and occupational therapy provision detailed in X’s EHC plan for the autumn term in 2019. This fault caused X and his mother, Ms B, injustice and the Council will take the action recommended to recognise this.

Norfolk County Council (20 001 312)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 14-Dec-2020

Summary: Mr B complains the Council delayed issuing his son with an Education, Health and Care plan, and he had to meet the cost of his son’s provision during the delay. We have found fault with the Council for its delay issuing Mr B’s son’s Education, Health and Care plan. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice to Mr and his son.

London Borough of Lambeth (19 012 432)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 11-Dec-2020

Summary: the Council delayed transferring Mr B’s daughter’s statement of special educational needs to an education, health and care plan, delayed carrying out updated assessments, delayed carrying out an annual review, failed to share the education, health and care plan or information about high needs funding with the college, delayed completing a social care assessment and delayed responding to a complaint. As a result Mr B’s daughter missed out on special educational needs provision between 2017 and 2019 and Mr B had to go to time and trouble to pursue his complaint. An apology and a financial payment is satisfactory remedy.

Somerset County Council (19 014 705)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 10-Dec-2020

Summary: Ms B complains about the actions of the Council associated with the process for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan for her son. She also complains about the Council’s failure to provide or fund home tuition for him. We find there was fault by the Council in the EHC plan process, and in record keeping. The faults identified led to injustice for Ms B, for which a remedy has been agreed.

Buckinghamshire County Council (19 012 845)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 08-Dec-2020

Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to her son, Z’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She also complained the Council delayed carrying out an assessment to determine if Z and his sibling were children in need. The Council was at fault when it delayed finalising Z’s EHC Plan, did not issue an amendment notification after his annual review and did not provide all the support in his Plan. The Council should make Ms X a payment to acknowledge the injustice this caused her and Z. The Council was at fault when it delayed in carrying out a child in need assessment, but this did not cause Ms X an injustice.