Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to provide her child with suitable education and special educational needs provision, and failure to complete an annual review. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s failure to provide her child with suitable education and special educational needs (SEN) provision. She also complains the Council failed to complete an annual review.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X’s child has an educational, health, and care (EHC) plan. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing the complainant injustice. This is because the Council has accepted it failed to monitor that annual reviews were being completed. The Council accepted no annual review was completed in January 2024 or January 2025.
6. The Council offered a payment of £350 to recognise the frustration caused by the delays in holding the annual reviews. However, the Council also acknowledged the missed annual reviews also meant there was missed opportunities for Ms X to raise concerns about the delivery of her child’s SEN provisions and for the Council to have identified any missing SEN provisions. Given this, there is some uncertainty as it cannot be established if SEN provision was effectively delivered in 2024 and 2025.
7. Further, the failure to complete the annual reviews as requested also meant there was missed opportunity for the Council to identify if further SEN provisions were appropriate for the child. Again, this has caused uncertainty.
8. Therefore, while the Council’s offer of a payment of £350 is appropriate to recognise the frustration caused by the failure to hold the annual reviews, I also consider a further financial payment is appropriate to recognise the uncertainty caused by the likely faults.
9. We therefore asked the Council to make an additional payment of £300 to recognise the uncertainty caused by the failure to hold annual reviews in January 2024 and 2025.
10. Ms X also complained about the Council’s failure to make suitable arrangements to enable her child to sit his exams. In response to your enquiries, the Council confirmed it had now arranged for the child to sit his exams this summer. Therefore, an investigation is not proportionate as there is nothing further we could achieve.

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Agreed action

11. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

12. We have upheld this complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman