Surrey County Council (24 011 736)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed reviewing an Education Health and Care Paln for a child. 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
- Ms X complains that the Council has delayed reviewing her child, Z’s, Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
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 that we would find fault. This is because the Council delayed completing the review of Z’s EHC Plan by two months frustrating Ms X’s right of appeal.
- We have recently upheld other complaints about delays with the Council completing annual reviews of EHC Plans and made recommendations regarding service improvements to prevent this happening in future. So I have therefore not recommended anything further recommendations in regard to this point.
- However, the delays have caused Ms X distress in the form of frustration and uncertainty. Whilst the Council has apologised to Ms X, I don’t consider that this fully remedies the injustice the delays have caused her.
- I therefore recommended that the Council writes to Ms X within one month to offer her a payment of £100 to remedy the distress this has caused to date. To its credit, the Council agreed to my recommendation.
Final decision
- We have upheld Ms X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing a suitable remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman