Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide her child’s full Education, Health and Care Plan provision since September 2024. Ms X also complained the Council refused to register her complaint and accused her of unreasonable and disruptive behaviour. We have ended our investigation because the Council has taken suitable action and further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome for the EHC Plan provision. We also did not consider the Council’s actions for Ms X’s complaint handling has caused a significant enough personal injustice to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to provide her child’s full Education, Health and Care Plan provision since September 2024.
2. Ms X also complained the Council has refused to log an official complaint and accused her of unreasonable and disruptive behaviour by raising complaints.
3. Ms X says the lack of provision for her child has caused them physical harm and says this matter has caused her stress and anxiety.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• 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))

5. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools unless it relates to special educational needs, when the schools are acting on behalf of the council to secure educational provision as set out in Section F of the young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan.
6. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Ms X and the Council had opportunity to comment on my draft decision before I made a final decision.

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What I found

Rules and regulations

EHC Plans

9. An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) is a legal document which sets out a description of a child's needs (what he or she can and cannot do). It says what needs to be done to meet those needs by education, health and social care.
10. Once the Council completes the EHCP it has a legal duty to deliver the educational and social care provision set out in the plan. The local health care provider will have the duty to deliver the health care provision.

Complaints procedure

11. The Council’s complaints procedure details reasons why it will not investigate a person’s complaint, including if a complaint has already been through both stages of its complaints procedure before. The Council’s procedure says it will tell a person why a matter is not suitable for handling under the corporate complaints procedure.

Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy

12. The Council’s policy on unreasonable complainant behaviour is designed to restrict contact for a minority of complainants. The Council’s policy details that this could be due to unreasonably persistent contact causing a potential impact on investigations and resource implications.
13. The Council’s policy says that it considers unreasonable and persistent demands on staff occurs when people cannot or will not accept a decision or explanation by the Council. The Council says in most instances it will explain why it considers a person’s behaviour unreasonable and ask them to change it. The Council may also advise that it will restrict contact moving forwards if behaviour does not change. This would constitute a warning before any action is taken under the policy.
14. The Council’s policy allows for formal restrictions on contacts which will be reviewed by panel on a 6 monthly basis if approved. The Council should explain the right of appeal to any restrictions imposed when telling a person about the restrictions.

What happened

Background

15. In May 2024, the Council issued a final EHC Plan for Ms X’s child, who I shall refer to as Y.
16. Ms X contacted the Council to advise she did not consider Y’s school was providing the full EHC Plan provision. The Council visited Y’s school and found nearly all Y’s provision was in place except for the home-school communication book, Occupational Therapy provision and contact with a food scientist.
17. The Council issued a Stage 2 complaint response in August 2024 explaining its findings and how it proposed to arrange the outstanding provision. The Council invited Ms X to engage with Solution Circle to help facilitate the remaining provision.
18. Ms X complained to the Ombudsman previously. We made the decision there was no fault with the Council because it had taken suitable steps to put in place the missing provision.

Matters about this complaint

19. In November 2024, Ms X contacted the Council to advise Y was not receiving the full EHC Plan provision. Ms X said the Council was failing to meet its duty to ensure Y’s school put in place the provision. Ms X detailed the full provision she considered was missing.
20. The Council responded to advise it had already investigated a complaint by Ms X about this same matter. The Council declined to open a new complaint. The Council said it would arrange for an inclusion office to attend Y’s school to find out what provision was being missed and work with Y’s school to resolve this.
21. Ms X and the Council liaised about Ms X concerns in November 2024 and December 2024. On 11 December 2024, the Council wrote to Ms X to advise it considered her contacts were causing undue pressure on staff and it would invoke its Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy. The Council said it had already committed to visiting the school. The Council told Ms X not to expect responses from each individual email and asked that she directs contacts to a specific email address rather than sending these across senior management. The Council said it would consider whether to accepts Ms X’s complaints as she makes them. Ms X responded to the Council asking how she could appeal this decision.
22. On 17 December 2024, Ms X asked if the Council was still offering Solution Circle. The Council advised it was and would arrange for the relevant person to contact Ms X.
23. The Council told Ms X it would consider her appeal about its decision to invoke the Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy on 18 December 2024. Ms X responded to complain that she did not ask the Council to lodge an appeal but rather asked for information about how to lodge an appeal. Ms X asked the Council for full and complete evidence of the Council’s decision making.
24. On 20 December 2024, the Council told Ms X it issued a warning to Ms X under its policy but had not placed an restrictions on Ms X’s ability to contact the Council. The letter was intended to give Ms X an opportunity to modify her behaviour as it was struggling to cope with her contacts. The Council said it would cancel her appeal as per Ms X’s request but would not provide the requested information as this was an unreasonable request.
25. In January 2025, the inclusion officer visited Y’s school. The inclusion officer found that most of Y’s EHC Plan was in place. The inclusion officer noted the following in relation to missing provision:
• A new communication format was being trialled for the home-school communication book.
• 1:1 emotional literacy interventions of 15-30 minutes per week were not taking place but had now agreed for Special Educational Needs Co-Ordinator to provide this moving forwards.
• Y’s school does not have a specified on site room equipped to help Y modulate and regulate sensory needs.
26. The inclusion officer noted the next step was to establish a trusting and working relationship between Ms X and the school and made recommendations about how the school should provide the missing provision. The inclusion officer provided their findings to Ms X and advised the Solution Circle would be in touch shortly.
27. The Council wrote to Ms X on 13 January 2025 to provide details of how Y’s Occupational Therapy provision was provided. The Council confirmed Solution Circle was being set up and Ms X would be invited to this.
28. Ms X disputed Y’s school was providing the Occupational Therapy provision correctly and requested a response to her complaint about the appeal. Ms X continued to liaise with the Council about the use of the Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy and provision of Y’s EHC Plan throughout January 2025.
29. On 4 February 2025, the Council told Ms X its focus was on ensuring Y received their full EHC Plan provision. The Council said Y’s school has discretion over the level of detail in the home-school communication book and this book is designed as a summary and not a comprehensive log. The Council said it was satisfied provision was in place following the inclusion officer’s investigation and appropriate next steps are in place through Solution Circle and asked Ms X to engage with this.

Analysis

EHC Plan provision

30. Since the Ombudsman previously investigated this matter in September 2024, I could only investigate Ms X’s complaint from September 2024. The Ombudsman will not investigate the same complaint twice.
31. A council is ultimately responsible for ensuring a child’s EHC Plan provision is in place. However, a council can delegate this responsibility to deliver an EHC Plan to other organisations such as schools. It is not practical for a council to keep a watching brief on whether schools are providing all the special educational provision for every pupil with an EHC Plan all the time. A council should check provision is in place at least annually and investigate concerns that provision is not in place when a person raises this with it.
32. Since the Council produced Y’s EHC Plan in May 2024, it did not need to complete any annual check-ups before the latest of May 2025. However, the Council checked Y’s EHC Plan through a visit in January 2025 following Ms X’s contact. The Council found most of Y’s EHC plan provision was in place. It made recommendations to improve some provisions going forwards. The Council also set up the Solution Circle to promote collaboration between Ms X and the school and work towards ensuring Y’s full provision was in place.
33. The Council responded to Ms X’s concerns appropriately and in a suitable timescale. The Council took action to confirm most of Y’s EHC Plan provision was in place and put in place steps to ensure provision was in place moving forwards for all Y’s EHC Plan provision.
34. The Council has acted correctly to address this matter. There is nothing further the Ombudsman could achieve through our investigation which would result in a different outcome.

Complaint handling

35. The Council declined to open a new complaint for Ms X in November 2024 and instead decided to manage this matter as an investigation because the complaint had been through its complaints procedure before.
36. The Council acted in line with its complaints policy in its decision not to register Ms X’s complaint and acted correctly to tell Ms X of its decision. The Council also took suitable action to investigate Ms X concerns despite not registering the complaint formally. I cannot find fault with the Council’s actions.
37. Ms X has complained about the Council using its Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour Policy. The Council used this policy to issue a warning to Ms X about her contacts and detailed how she should contact the Council in future. The Council did not put in place restrictions to prevent Ms X from contacting or complaining to the Council and issued a warning without formally restricting all contact. Since the Council has not put in place formal restrictions on Ms X, I do not consider this has presented a significant personal injustice to Ms X.
38. The Council has managed Ms X’s contacts in line with its policies and further investigation by the Ombudsman would achieve no worthwhile outcome given the lack of significant personal injustice caused.

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Decision

39. I have ended my investigation and do not uphold Ms X’s complaint. There was not a significant personal injustice to justify further investigation by the Ombudsman and further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different or worthwhile outcome.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman