London Borough of Waltham Forest (25 013 782)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Council’s Educational, Health and Care annual review process. The Council has provided an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused to the complainant and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- Mr X complained the Council had delayed the annual review of his son’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. He says it delayed notifying him of the outcome and providing an amended EHC plan.
- He says this delayed his appeal rights and caused him and his family distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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, or
- there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council carried out an annual review for Mr X’s son. Mr X complained the Council had caused delays in this process.
- The Council has accepted it did not tell Mr X of its decision to amend his son’s EHC plan or provide him with an amended copy until six weeks after the statutory deadline.
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delays in the annual review process. The Council has offered Mr X a remedy in line with our guidance and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has already offered an appropriate remedy and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman