Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about communication and speech and language therapy payments for Miss X’s child. It now seems likely the Council resolved these matters before Miss X approached us. Further investigation by us would be unlikely to lead to a different or better outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss X said the Council failed to allocate a new case worker for her child’s special educational needs (SEN), failed to pay for speech and language therapy (SALT), and failed to respond properly to her complaint.

Back to top

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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• 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).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

6. In responding to Miss X’s complaint, the Council accepted it had not told her the name of the new case worker for her child’s SEN when the old one left. It also confirmed it had failed to arrange payment for SALT, and accepted it had taken too long to respond to her complaint. It apologised for these failings, provided the name and contact details of the new worker, and said it had set up a system to pay the SALT charges automatically, so Miss X no longer had to chase it. Miss X told me that, while she was not sure if the Council had sorted out the charges, she had not had to make any further payments.
7. We have previously found fault with the Council‘s actions concerning Miss X’s child’s SEN three times since 2021. Therefore, her trust in the Council is less than it would have been previously. Even so, it seems more likely than not given she has the name and contact details for the SEN case worker and she has not been asked to pay for SALT since the Council’s final response to her complaint two months ago that the Council resolved these matter before our involvement.

Back to top

Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because doing so would not add to the Council’s own findings or lead to a different or more worthwhile outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman