Summary: We will not investigate Mr F’s complaint about the alleged failure to deliver special educational provision in his son’s education, health and care (EHC) plan because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr F wants.

The complaint

1. Mr F complains the Council failed to secure provision in his son B’s education, health and care (EHC) plan in 2023 - 2024. He says speech and language therapy (SALT) was only partially delivered.
2. Mr F says SALT only started in January 2024. He says there was little evidence of any work being documented or recorded and so the Speech and Language Therapist was unable to review B’s outcomes.
3. Mr F says B’s tutor and the SENCO at the college he attended agreed the SALT provision has not been properly provided at the annual review meeting on 12 June 2024.
4. The Council ceased to maintain B’s EHC plan in August 2024.
5. Mr F wants the Council to arrange the SALT B missed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. 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 do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by Mr F.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Councils are responsible for securing the special educational provision in a young person’s EHC plan. Usually, this involves arranging for others to deliver the provision.
10. We accept it is not practical for councils to keep a ‘watching brief’ on whether colleges and others are providing all the special educational provision in an EHC Plan. We consider councils should be able to demonstrate appropriate oversight in gathering information to fulfil their legal duty. At a minimum we expect them to have systems in place to:
• put the special educational provision in place when a new or amended EHC Plan is issued or there is a change in educational placement;
• check the provision at least annually during the EHC review process; and
• quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the provision is not in place at any time.
11. In B’s case, the Council commissioned a speech and language therapist to devise programmes for staff at the college he attended to deliver.
12. Unfortunately, it appears that the first opportunity the Council had to respond to problems was following the annual review meeting in June 2024. It does not appear the Council was made aware of problems any sooner.
13. Shortly after the annual review meeting, B stopped attending college and the Council ceased to maintain his EHC plan. There was, therefore, little opportunity for the Council to address any concerns.
14. Taking all of this information into account, there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating Mr F’s complaint. In any event, we could not achieve the outcome Mr F wants. We cannot recommend the Council delivers the SALT if it does not maintain an EHC plan.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr F’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council, and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr F wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman