The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is this week issuing two separate reports into the way London Borough of Redbridge has failed the family of a 20 year old man with Special Educational Needs.

In a rare move, the Ombudsman is publishing the two reports on the same day to highlight the repeated problems the family has faced.

In the first case, the Ombudsman has criticised the council for not carrying out an agreed remedy following an earlier complaint in October 2019.

The council had agreed to carry out an annual review of the man’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan by the end of January 2020. Despite investigators chasing, the council did not provide the Ombudsman with the evidence it needed to close the case until it was threatened with a High Court witness summons.

The evidence it finally provided in October 2020 showed that instead of carrying out a fresh review, the council relied on one it carried out in July 2019. The annual review meeting eventually took place in July 2020.

In the second complaint, the council failed to conduct a proper review of the man’s EHC Plan in July 2018 and delayed issuing the plan. Some aspects of the man’s health provision, including immunisations, updating orthopaedic boots and dental treatment, were wrongly removed from his draft plan. When the family objected, the council issued a final plan identical to the draft.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:

“These are not the first cases involving the family that I have upheld. We have been investigating problems the family has faced since as early as 2010.

“The council has had plenty of time to get things right for the family. That it is still failing them is incredibly disappointing and I call on it to review why this is and apologise.

“It is also disappointing the council has not yet agreed to my recommendations. I urge it to accept the improvements I have recommended to the services it provides to families of children and young adults with Special Educational Needs in the borough.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s role is to remedy injustice and share learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In these cases, the council should apologise to the family and pay them £200 to recognise the further frustration and uncertainty caused by its failure to comply with the previously agreed action. It should also pay £750 to the man for the lost opportunity to have his health needs considered properly and a further £750 for the father’s avoidable distress and time and trouble. It should also arrange a meeting between the council, the parents and the Designated Clinical Officer.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In these cases, the council should review its processes to ensure it is carrying out annual reviews in line with statutory guidance, ensure it has suitable processes in place to monitor and act promptly where an educational establishment fails to carry out annual reviews in line with statutory guidance, and have a suitable corporate process to ensure all recommendations are fully and promptly implemented.

The council should also make a number of improvements to show how it now ensures it issues amended EHC Plans without delay.

Article date: 15 June 2021