West Sussex County Council (25 013 569)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Feb 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a direct payment to fund provision in his son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. An investigation by the Ombudsman would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response or lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained about the Council’s handling of a direct payment to fund provision in his son’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mr X said the payment was late and officers had failed to respond to his calls.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In response to Mr X’s complaint the Council said the direct payment had stopped due to an administrative error. It apologised for this, arranged for the missed payments to be made, and put in place monthly payments going forward. It offered Mr X £100 for the frustration and uncertainty.
- In deciding whether to investigate we consider various tests. These include what more we could achieve. So, while I understand Mr X’s frustrations, we will not start an investigation into his complaint.
- This is because the Council has accepted fault, apologised, and offered a symbolic remedy. These are the steps we would have recommended. An investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response or lead to a different outcome. Our further involvement is not therefore warranted.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. An investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the response Mr X has already received or lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman