Summary: Mrs C complained the Council delayed dealing with her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan when she moved to its area. We find the Council was at fault for its delays in dealing with Mrs C’s son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council largely remedied Mrs C’s and her son’s injustice when it responded to her complaint. It has agreed to our further recommendation to reflect Mrs C’s son’s missed education and provision for one month.

The complaint

1. Mrs C complained the Council delayed dealing with her son’s (D) Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan when she moved to its area. She says D is isolated with minimal education because of the Council’s failures. She adds the matter has caused distress and upset and she had to pay to fund D’s education.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Mrs C and the Council.
6. Mrs C and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Special educational needs

7. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an EHC Plan. This document sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the tribunal or the council can do this. 
8. Where a child or young person moves to another council, the ‘old’ council must transfer the EHC Plan to the ‘new’ council. The new council must make sure the provision in the EHC Plan begins on the day of the move or within 15 working days of becoming aware of the move if this is later. The new council must review the EHC Plan either within 12 months of it last being reviewed or three months of the date of the transfer, whichever is the later date. The new council should contact the parent or young person within six weeks to notify them the EHC Plan has been transferred and when it will review the EHC Plan (Section 15 Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014).

What happened

9. D has special educational needs and an EHC Plan. Mrs C contacted the Council on 17 April 2023 and said she was moving to its area. She asked how to start the process of transferring D’s EHC Plan. The Council provided an email address for Mrs C’s previous home authority (Council X) to transfer the Plan to.
10. Council X sent the Council a copy of D’s EHC Plan on 26 April.
11. Mrs C contacted the Council for several months about D’s EHC Plan but she did not receive a response. She also referred her concerns to her MP.
12. The Council contacted Mrs C in December 2023 and consulted with two mainstream schools.
13. Mrs C complained to the Council in January 2024. She said it failed to contact her and deal with D’s EHC Plan. She said she was funding D’s education at an online school because of its failures. She also said because of its failures D had to start his GCSEs at home.
14. The Council responded to Mrs C’s complaint in February and accepted it delayed dealing with D’s EHC Plan. It apologised for this. It said an officer would get in contact with her to discuss reviewing D’s EHC Plan and consulting with her preferred choice of schools. It also said it would consider refunding the online education she had paid for.
15. Mrs C referred her complaint stage two. She said an officer had not contacted her to move D’s case forward. She also said she sent invoices for the money she had paid for D’s schooling, but she had not received a response.
16. The Council reviewed D’s EHC Plan and issued a draft amended EHC Plan in mid-March. It also consulted with Mrs C’s preferred school.
17. The Council issued its final response to Mrs C’s complaint the following day. It apologised for its delays in dealing with D’s EHC Plan. It offered £6,000 for the loss of D’s education and provision from June 2023 to March 2024. It also confirmed it would refund her £4,800.48 which is the money she paid educating D. It agreed to pay her £500 for her time and trouble and a further £500 for her distress. It said it would continue funding D’s online school until it found a school placement for him. Finally, it said it would review its process to ensure other families who move into its area do not experience such delays. It also said it had created a dedicated email inbox to ensure it picks up information about new families who move to the area at the earliest opportunity.

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Analysis

18. The Council has accepted it delayed dealing with D’s EHC Plan. I agree the Council was at fault. It did not take any action on D’s file until December 2023, despite receiving his EHC Plan in April 2023. It also did not communicate effectively with Mrs C and tell her what it was going to do to ensure D received the education and provision in his EHC Plan. The Council’s faults mean D lost out on provision and education at an important time in his school career. Children have a right to an effective education and any time they miss is difficult to replace later. The matter caused Mrs C distress, upset and frustration about D’s education.
19. The Council has apologised to Mrs C and refunded the money she paid educating D. It has also paid £6,000 to reflect D’s loss of education and provision from June 2023 to March 2024, paid Mrs C £1,000 for her distress and time and trouble and has put in place service improvements. I welcome the steps the Council has taken which is broadly in line with our guidance on remedies. However, I note the Council’s remedy for D’s loss of education and provision starts from June 2023. The regulations state the new council must make sure the provision in the EHC Plan begins on the day of the move or within 15 working days of becoming aware of the move if this is later. Therefore, D’s provision should have started by 10 May 2023. In its response to Mrs C’s complaint, the Council said it started the remedy from June 2023 because D’s EHC Plan from Council X named elective home education. Section I of D’s EHC Plan names a mainstream school, but it says Mrs C made her own arrangements to electively home educate D. When I spoke to Mrs C, she said her plan was for D to transition to a suitable school and he was not getting a suitable education for his needs at home. Therefore, if the Council had not delayed matters and had communicated with Mrs C effectively, it would have realised it needed to take responsibility for D’s education and provision from May 2023. Therefore, the Council should make a further payment to cover this period.
20. Mrs C says there are ongoing issues since the Council issued its final response to her complaint. She says the Council has funded D’s access to online schooling, but he is still without a school placement. We would usually only investigate events up to the point a complainant receives a final response from the organisation they have complained about. If Mrs C has further issues since the final response, she will need to make a further complaint to the Council.

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Agreed action

21. By 11 September 2024 the Council has agreed to pay Mrs C £250 (this takes into account the school holidays) to reflect D’s loss of education and provision for May 2023. We would suggest Mrs C uses this payment for D’s educational benefit.
22. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above action.

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Final decision

23. There was fault by the Council, which caused Mrs C and D and injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendation to address the injustice caused by fault.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman