Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the lack of educational provision the Council provided and matters relating to her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because the complaint has been upheld and investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to lead to a significantly different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has offered an inadequate financial remedy for the injustice caused by failing to provide her child with a suitable education. Mrs X says the Council has not appropriately considered the impact the loss of provision and delays have had on her child and the family.

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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), as amended, 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. The Council upheld Mrs X’s complaint that it failed to provide all the provision in her child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan when she stopped attending school and it also delayed finalising the EHC Plan. The Council apologised to Mrs X and offered her a symbolic payment in recognition of its fault. The Council has considered our Guidance on Remedies when calculating an appropriate remedy for Mrs X.
6. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely our intervention could achieve anything more for Mrs X. The Council has an ongoing plan to make service improvements to its SEN service that is available to view on its website. It is unlikely an investigation would add anything more.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely our intervention could achieve anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman