London Borough of Southwark (22 016 010)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Mar 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with concerns that a child is not receiving the provision detailed in their Education Health and Care plan. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complains that the Council has failed to ensure her son’s school was providing the provision detailed in his Education Health and Care plan. Ms X says her son has been without this provision since 2020.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about her son’s provision going back to 2020. This is because we have already previously considered a complaint from Ms X about part of this period and because the complaint is made late and could have been made sooner. I have however considered how the Council responded to Ms X’s concerns about her son’s provision after a new EHC plan was issued in November 2022.
- In response to Ms X’s concerns that the provision in her son’s EHC plan was not being met, the Council contacted his school and asked it to explain what provision was being provided and how. The Council considered Ms X’s concerns about her provision, considered the response from her son’s school and supporting evidence it provided and considered the contents of Ms X’s son’s EHC plan. It agreed with the school’s conclusion that the provision arranged exceeded that detailed in the EHC plan.
- In responding to Ms X’s complaint, the Council made appropriate enquiries with the school and considered appropriate information before reaching its decision that it was satisfied that full provision was being met. It fully explained to Ms X how the provision was being met and has provided a copy of a school timetable to Ms X. Having carefully considered Ms X I will not start an investigation because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman