Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the handling of Miss X’s request for an Education Health and Care needs assessment. This is because the Council has agreed a suitable remedy for the impact of its failures on Miss X and her son.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council delayed in dealing with her request for an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her son and in deciding not to issue him an EHC Plan. She also complains the Council failed to respond to her requests for mediation and requests from the SEND Tribunal about her appeal. She says the Council has now failed to process a compensation payment promptly.

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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)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council accepted it delayed for 2.5 months in completing its EHC needs assessment and deciding not to issue Miss X’s son an EHC Plan. It has agreed to pay Miss X £250 for the delay in dealing with the needs assessment, £100 for the delay in responding to her mediation request and £500 for distress caused by communication failures. We cannot look at any failures by the Council in responding to the Tribunal, as this is a matter for the Tribunal itself.
8. The Council’s offer amounts to a total of £850 and this provides a suitable remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X. It is therefore unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for her.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s agreement to pay Miss X £850 provides a suitable remedy for the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman