Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to make the necessary funding available to the complainant’s son’s school to enable it to deliver the provision to which he is entitled. Investigation would not add anything significant to the response the Council has already made and is not therefore warranted.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council failed to make the necessary funding available to her son’s school to enable it to deliver the provision to which he is entitled.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s son has special educational needs and an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan. She complains that the Council failed to make the appropriate funding available to her son’s school to deliver the provision set out in Section F of his EHC plan. She alleges that the Council actively tells schools not to deliver Section F provision, thereby disadvantaging pupils.
6. Mrs X says she complained to the Council about the failure to deliver the provisions set out in Section F of her son’s EHC plan. She says the Council upheld the complaint, and that it told the school to apply for the appropriate funding. Mrs X’s complaint to the Ombudsman concerns the Council’s response to this application. She says it failed to increase funding sufficiently to ensure the school could deliver the Section F funding.
7. In its response to Mrs X’s complaint, the Council said that it agreed to increase funding at the school’s request, but that Mrs X subsequently told it that the school had informed her that the increase was not sufficient. The Council said the fact that the appropriate rate was not initially agreed was due to an oversight on its part.
8. The Council undertook to rectify the matter by increasing the funding provided to the school. It stated that the Section F provision should be delivered for as long as it was regarded as appropriate and that any changes would be considered through the review process.
9. Mrs X does not regard the Council’s response as appropriate. Specifically, she believes the explanation for the initial failure to agree the full funding increase is insufficient. She believes the Council has chosen to ignore her son’s EHC plan and that he should be compensated for this.
10. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is not likely we would seek to add anything significant to the response the Council has made. The Council is required to secure the provision set out in Section F. Funding arrangements are primarily a matter between it and its provider - in this case the school. Mrs X’s earlier complaint about the failure to deliver provision was upheld and does not form part of the Ombudsman’s consideration of this complaint. The matter for us to consider is how the Council responded when it became aware of the funding matter.
11. In this regard, the Council has accepted that it initially failed to increase the funding to the appropriate level due to error on its part. Since Mrs X made it aware of the error, it has set out an appropriate course of action to address it. The response is reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances of the case and the Ombudsman would not seek to add to it. There is nothing to suggest that the Council advised the school not to make Section F provision, as Mrs X alleges, and investigation is not warranted.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because investigation would not add anything significant to the response the Council has already made.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman