Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (24 010 347)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed considering a request for a reassessment of a child’s Special Educational Needs. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by offering to make a suitable payment to the complainant to remedy the injustice this caused.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains via her representative that the Council delayed considering her request for a reassessment of her child Y’s Special Educational Needs (SEN). Mrs X says this delayed her right of appeal.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
- Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault. This is because there has been a delay in the Council considering Mrs X’s request for a reassessment of Y’s needs. The request should have been considered in 15 days but took the Council around two months to reject Mrs X’s request. This frustrated Mrs X’s right of appeal.
- The Council apologised to Mrs X for the delay and reminded staff of the importance of responding to requests on time. However, I considered that the delay warranted a financial remedy and therefore asked the Council to make a payment to Mrs X of £100 to remedy the frustration caused to her by the delay
- To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and has agreed with our proposed remedy. It will therefore offer Mrs X a payment of £100 within one month of the date of our final decision.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing an appropriate remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman