Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the annual review of an Education, Health and Care plan. The Council has provided a reasonable remedy to address the delay and poor complaints handling. Any remaining injustice does not warrant further investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council delayed issuing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan following her son’s annual review. She also complained the Council failed to deal with her complaint in a reasonable timeframe.
2. She says this is a further example of repeated failings which have affected her trust in the Council and her son’s educational success.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• 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

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X complained the Council had delayed issuing an EHC plan for her son after his annual review. The Council accepted it failed to take any action following the annual review meeting until Mrs X chased it. It stated this has resulted in a delay of around one month. It apologised to Mrs X for the delay and the impact this had on her and offered a symbolic remedy for the delays in the complaints handling.
8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has accepted fault and offered her a remedy to address this. This is broadly in line with our remedies guidance, and any remaining injustice would be insufficient to warrant further investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has offered a reasonable remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman