London Borough of Brent (24 011 018)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to properly support her child, Y’s, special educational needs. There was fault in how the Council failed to keep Y’s alternative education under review and how it decided to withdraw school transport. As a result, Y missed out on education for over a term and this caused Miss X avoidable inconvenience and distress. The Council agreed to apologise, pay Miss X a financial remedy and issue reminders to its staff.

Brighton & Hove City Council (24 011 749)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to secure provision set out in Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan once they moved into its area. The Council is at fault for not securing Y’s provision, causing a loss of education. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the loss of education and put provision in place and act to prevent recurrence.

London Borough of Newham (24 012 473)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: Mr X complained the Council did not secure the special educational provision listed in his child’s, Y’s, Education Health and Care Plan. We find the Council failed to secure speech and language therapy and occupational therapy it should have, and had poor complaint handling. This caused injustice in the form of missed educational provision, distress and time and trouble. The Council agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to remedy the injustice.

Cumberland Council (24 013 967)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: The Council failed to consider an interim review Miss X’s child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan when they stopped attending school in April 2024. It also delayed reviewing the Plan when Y’s alternative provision failed. This caused Miss X a period of uncertainty and Y to miss out on two terms of the provision in their Plan. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X and review its approach to interim EHC Plan reviews.

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (24 006 570)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed completing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and failed to issue an EHC Plan for her child, Y, within statutory timescales. Mrs X also complained the Council delayed processing Y’s personal budget and did not pay the full amount. Mrs X said these faults caused avoidable distress and uncertainty. She said it also led to Y missing special educational provision. We have found the Council at fault for its delay in processing and paying Y‘s personal budget. The Council has agreed to provide a written apology and pay a symbolic financial remedy to recognise Y’s missed special educational provision. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about delays in the EHC needs assessment. We explain why in this statement.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (24 019 133)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Education, Health and Care Plan process for her daughter. Mrs X has appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). This places the complaint outside our jurisdiction.

Blackpool Borough Council (24 021 996)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about her child, Y’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment process. Mrs X had a right of appeal to a tribunal if she disagreed with the content of the plan, which it was reasonable for her to use. We could not require the Council to conduct a fresh educational psychologist assessment and so cannot achieve what she wants.

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (25 000 653)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 03-Jun-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs Y’s complaint about the Council’s failure to name a school on her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because she has used her right of appeal to a tribunal about the same matter.

Hampshire County Council (24 011 862)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 02-Jun-2025

Summary: The Council accepted it failed to provide Miss X’s child, Y, with an education from September 2023 to April 2024, and then failed to attempt to secure alternative provision for Y. This resulted in Y missing two terms of education and caused Miss X distress and frustration. The Council has offered to make a payment to Miss X. I am satisfied with the Council’s proposed remedy.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (24 013 016)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 02-Jun-2025

Summary: Mr X complained the Council incurred delays in providing an Education, Health and Care Plan for his son. Mr X says the Council’s actions caused avoidable distress and frustration and hindered his son’s access to appropriate support and provision. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to issue the final Education, Health and Care Plan and provide an apology and financial remedy to Mr X. The Council has also agreed to provide regular reports to Cabinet and other appropriate senior committees regarding the progress made by its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities service following its restructure, investment and recruitment measures.