Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about failings by the Council in arranging a school placement for Ms X’s child. Ms X has now accepted a remedy for fault offered by the Council. Therefore, further investigation would not now lead to a worthwhile outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X said there was fault by the Council in arranging a school placement for her child during the final stages on an Education Health and Care assessment in the summer of 2023. She said the Council left her unaware of its intentions, and she only discovered this when a representative of the intended school was present at a virtual meeting. She said a letter that purported to be before the virtual meeting was misdated and the Council failed to respond to questions posed by her solicitor.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Since Ms X approached us, the Council has accepted it failed to respond properly to her complaint and that a letter to Ms X was mis-dated. The implication of its acceptance was that Ms X was unaware of the purpose of the virtual meeting in advance. It offered her £500 for her time and trouble in having to approach the Ombudsman to resolve this issue. Ms X told me she had accepted the remedy offered.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because doing so would not lead to a worthwhile outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman