Summary: The Council has agreed to put Mr and Mrs J’s complaint, which is about the Council’s failure to provide their son with education and respite provision, through the statutory complaints process for complaints about children’s services. So the Ombudsman should not consider the matter further at this stage.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs J complain that the Council has:
• Delayed in finalising their son’s education health and care (EHC) plan
• Failed to provide their son with education since they moved to the area in February 2019
• Failed to make overnight respite provision for their son.
2. As a result, their son has missed out on education which meets his special educational needs (SEN), and lost opportunities to socialise; and Mr and Mrs J have not had a break from caring for him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered the information Mr and Mrs J provided with their complaint, and discussed their complaint with them.

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What I found

5. Mr and Mrs J sought the help of their MP in early 2019, but did not submit a formal complaint to the Council until December 2019.
6. The law sets out a procedure for considering complaints about children’s services. This covers that part of the complaint about the provision of respite care. The relevant guidance encourages councils to offer a complete single response where there are related complaints which do not fall within the statutory procedure, as is the case here.
7. The procedure has three stages. The complexity of this complaint means that the Council should now consider Mr and Mrs J’s complaint at stage 2. At stage 2, the Council appoints an investigating officer, and an independent person who oversees the investigation. If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a stage 3 review.
8. It is usually in everybody’s best interests for a complaint to complete this procedure before we consider a complaint. The Council can continue to try to resolve it while an investigation is under way.
9. The Council has agreed to take Mr and Mrs J’s complaint through the procedure, starting at stage 2. So there is nothing more the Ombudsman can achieve at this stage. Mr and Mrs J can contact us again if they remain unhappy after stage 3 of the procedure.

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Agreed action

10. The Council has agreed to take Mr and Mrs J’s complaint through the statutory procedure for complaints about children’s services, starting at stage 2.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint, because the Council has agreed to take satisfactory action towards resolving it.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman