Cheshire East Council (20 014 516)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 17-Dec-2021

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to ensure her daughter, B, received certain special educational provision set out in her Education, Health and Care Plan. She complains the Council failed to complete the annual review of the Plan within the statutory timescales. The Ombudsman has decided to uphold Mrs X’s complaint. Because of this fault, Mrs X was caused distress and uncertainty, and B missed out on certain provision. To remedy the injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise, make Mrs X and B a payment, and take action to prevent similar failings in the future.

Cheshire East Council (21 012 021)

Statement Upheld Other 19-Jan-2022

Summary: Miss X complained the Council wrongly refused to allow her to escalate her complaints to stage 2 of the children’s statutory complaints procedures. The Council was at fault when it refused to go to stage 2 of the procedures. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration and time and trouble coming to the Ombudsman. It has agreed to apologise, pay Miss X £100 and move without further delay to stage 2. It has also agreed to carry out service improvements.

Cheshire East Council (20 009 100)

Statement Upheld Other 20-Jan-2022

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to accept responsibility for maintaining a blocked culvert on land near his home. Mr X also complained the Council failed to acknowledge his disability or his need for reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act. The Ombudsman found there was fault causing injustice when the Council failed to properly investigate the blocked culvert, when it gave inconsistent information about special contact measures, and when it failed to properly engage with Mr X about his disability.

Cheshire East Council (20 013 619)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 08-Feb-2022

Summary: Ms X complained about fault and delay in the way the Council provided support for her child’s special educational needs and care needs. We cannot say that on the balance of probabilities her child missed out on education, but the fault did cause uncertainty and distress as to whether the outcome might have been different, which is in itself an injustice. Recommendations for an apology, financial payment and service improvements are made.

Cheshire East Council (21 006 817)

Statement Upheld Drainage 14-Feb-2022

Summary: Miss X complained the Council did not take proper action in response to her complaint about a flooding problem on the carriageway outside her property. The Council was at fault because it delayed completing an investigation. This caused Miss X uncertainty, frustration and time and trouble. The Council has agreed it will apologise to Miss X and pay her £100 for the frustration, time and trouble the matter has caused her. The Council will also complete its investigation and inform Miss X of the outcome and the action it proposes to take.

Cheshire East Council (20 012 023)

Statement Upheld Covid-19 09-Mar-2022

Summary: We did not investigate Mrs X’s complaints about decisions the Council made about a child she fostered. This is because we did not find fault with the Council’s stage two and three statutory complaint investigations. However, we did find fault with delays in the Council’s complaint handling and in complying with the recommendations from those investigations. The Council has offered a suitable remedy for the delay. It will also complete the recommendations, apologise to Mrs X and remind officers of the timescales for carrying out investigations.

Cheshire East Council (21 009 784)

Statement Upheld Enforcement 29-Mar-2022

Summary: Mr X complains about inaction by the Council on a planning enforcement complaint. There was fault with the Council’s handling of the planning enforcement matter as well as its handling of Mr X’s complaint. However, the complainant was closed because the Ombudsman cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

Cheshire East Council (21 012 628)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 29-Mar-2022

Summary: The Council failed to provide the IT equipment and software listed in Ms X’s child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This has negatively affected her son’s education. The Council has agreed to apologise, provide the items needed and make a symbolic financial payment to Ms X. It has also agreed to put in place appropriate training for staff to prevent this happening in future.