Northumberland County Council (25 005 413)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delays following an annual Education Health and Care Plan review. This is because the Council upheld this part of Mr X’s complaint and has now agreed to a suitable remedy for his outstanding injustice.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council did not meet statutory timescales following an annual Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan review. Mr X said the Council also did not properly follow the statutory process.
- Mr X said the Council’s actions have caused the family ongoing stress and uncertainty.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained about delays in issuing a final EHC Plan following an annual review of his child’s EHC Plan. He also said it did not properly follow the statutory process. If we investigated, it is likely we would find the Council at fault because of delays.
- We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by making a symbolic financial remedy to Mr X to acknowledge the distress caused and to resolve the complaint early.
- To its credit the Council agreed to do this within two weeks of my final decision and will pay Mr X £300. This is a suitable remedy for his injustice and therefore we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have upheld this part of the complaint and the Council have agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a suitable remedy for Mr X’s injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman