Derbyshire County Council (19 003 959)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 08-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her son, F, with a suitable education and failed to meet his special educational needs set out in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan between 2016 and 2019. The Council was at fault. It accepted during its stage 2 investigation into Mrs X’s complaints that it failed to provide F with a suitable full-time education or provide him with the provision in his EHC Plan between April 2017 and November 2019. The Council also failed to amend F’s EHC Plan within statutory timescales following annual reviews in 2017 and 2018. To remedy the injustice this caused F the Council agreed to pay Mrs X a total of £6,900 to use for F’s education benefit. It also agreed to pay Mrs X a further £500 to acknowledge the significant distress, uncertainty and time and trouble this caused her. The Council will also carry out service improvements.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (19 012 853)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 07-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to plan properly for her disabled daughter, Miss T. She says this meant Miss T was unable to move into her university accommodation on time, delaying her transition towards independent living. The Council did not effectively coordinate planning for Miss T’s care, which caused her and Mrs X an injustice. The lack of planning caused avoidable distress. Mrs X also complains Council officers dismissed Miss T’s needs at a meeting attended to address the assistance she required. We consider that on balance, the Council should have been more sensitive to Miss T’s needs at the meeting, which would have been possible with better planning. We have made recommendations to acknowledge the distress caused and suggested service improvements to help avoid such issues arising in the future. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

Shropshire Council (19 012 940)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 07-Dec-2020

Summary: Ms B complained the Council failed to follow the statutory process for her son’s education, health and care plan, reduced the provision without carrying out a review, wrongly stopped travel training and treated provision she had arranged as part of the Council’s provision. The Council’s communications about the education, health and care plan were not clear and created confusion, and the Council accepts it stopped travel training prematurely, which means Ms B’s son potentially missed out on some provision. An apology, payment to Ms B, agreement to discuss whether further travel training would be useful and the changes the Council has introduced to the annual review process is satisfactory remedy.

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (19 013 134)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 07-Dec-2020

Summary: The Council was at fault for delaying in providing an Education Health Care Plan for Mrs X’s son, causing him to miss education. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X for the delay, make a payment to reflect the education her son missed and review its procedures.

London Borough of Sutton (20 005 331)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 06-Dec-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms B’s complaint that the Council was at fault in declining to carry out an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment. This is because Ms B has used the right to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

Kent County Council (20 005 822)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 05-Dec-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss B’s complaint that the Council has been at fault in the process of identifying an appropriate school place for her son. This is because it was open to her to appeal about the outcome of the process to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal and it would have been reasonable for her to do so.

Staffordshire County Council (19 017 142)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs M complained that the Council failed to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan within statutory timescales for her daughter, N. She says the Council also failed to act when N was out of school because of her anxiety. When she made complaints, the Council failed to answer them fully. This has caused her distress and time and trouble chasing the Council for responses. The investigation has found evidence of fault leading to injustice for Mrs M and N and a remedy to that injustice has been agreed.

Buckinghamshire County Council (19 020 627)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 02-Dec-2020

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council delayed in issuing her son’s final EHC plan following an annual review in April 2018 for over two years. The Council’s delays and errors in the EHC plan process amount to fault. This fault has caused Mrs X and her son an injustice.

London Borough of Sutton (20 006 597)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 02-Dec-2020

Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the content of her daughter’s Education Health and Care Plan. She had a right of appeal against this it would have been reasonable to use.

Devon County Council (20 000 941)

Statement Not upheld Special educational needs 01-Dec-2020

Summary: Mr X complains his son has not received the Speech and Language Therapy provision set out in his Education, Health and Care plan. The Ombudsman does not find fault with the Council as it has secured the specified special educational provision.