Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Education Health and Care Plan process when the complainant moved into the Council’s area. This is because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) process for her son (Y) when she moved into the Council’s area. Mrs X says the Council was slow to contact her and she did not know what was happening with Y’s education. Mrs X says this caused emotional distress and wants compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In its responses to Mrs X’s complaints, the Council said that when she moved into its area, Y’s EHC Plan was subject to an appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Because of this it could not confirm the long-term arrangements for Y’s education. But the existing arrangements for provision, including Speech and Language Therapy, had remained in place. The Council had now agreed a Personal Budget. Y would remain at his current nursery before transferring to a new setting at the start of the academic year.
6. We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint. This is because while I recognise her frustrations, there is not enough evidence of significant personal injustice because of the Council’s actions. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive, only the most serious.
7. In this case there was an ongoing appeal to the SEND Tribunal. This affected what the Council could do. There may have been a period when Mrs X was unsure about what was happening. But this alone is not significant enough for us to become involved. There is not enough evidence of missed provision to warrant an investigation. So, even if we did investigate, it is unlikely we would offer any kind of remedy. An investigation is not therefore appropriate.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman