Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delay in issuing an Education Health and Care plan and fault in complaint handling. The Council has upheld the complaint and investigation would not add anything significant or lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council delayed issuing her child’s EHC plan and failed to respond reasonably to her subsequent complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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), section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X complains that the Council took too long to issue her child’s EHC plan following an order issued by the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) in March 2023. The correspondence she has provided shows that it did not issue the EHC plan in final form until November 2023. She further complains that the Council was at fault in its handling of her complaint
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. It has already been upheld. The key matters have been considered and determined. The Council has apologised and offered financial remedies totalling £1125 in recognition of the fault on its part. This is broadly in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance and is a reasonable and proportionate outcome in the circumstances of the complaint.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because our intervention would not add anything significant or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman