Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consultations with secondary schools for Mrs X’s child. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council sent an out-of-date Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) to secondary schools during consultations for her child, along with poor communication from the Council and unsatisfactory and confusing complaint responses.

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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. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The first complaint response from the Council said it could not deal with Mrs X’s complaint as the concerns raised were about the EHC Plan which was going to Tribunal.
7. Mrs X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman and we asked the Council to carry out a stage two investigation.
8. To its credit the stage two response from the Council was thorough, apologising for the fault and making good service improvements to ensure this does not happen again.
9. However, if we investigated this complaint it is likely we would find the Council at fault because it did not know which version of the EHC Plan had been sent to schools, there was delay, issues with record keeping and poor communication with Mrs X.
10. The Council offered a symbolic payment of £100 so we asked it to consider remedying this by paying Mrs X £200 for distress and £150 for time and trouble, within one month of this decision.

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Agreed action

11. To its credit the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and it will pay Mrs X £350 as stated in paragraph nine.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman