Devon County Council (22 008 979)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 10-Apr-2023

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed assessing her child, W, for an Education, Health and Care plan and failed to put alternative provision in place when W could not attend school. The Council was at fault for delay in carrying out the assessment for W’s Education, Health and Care plan. This caused Mrs X frustration and meant W was delayed in receiving special educational provision. The Council was also at fault for failing to properly consider if it should arrange alternative provision when W was out of education. On balance, had it acted without fault, the Council would have put provision in place. Its failure to do so had a negative impact on W’s development and learning. The Council will apologise to Mrs X. It will also pay Mrs X £2000 in recognition of the injustice she and W experienced. Finally, the Council will carry out staff training on the alternative provision duty and review the form it uses to seek information from medical professionals on a child’s health needs.

Devon County Council (22 005 986)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 20-Apr-2023

Summary: Mr X complained the Council provided contradictory information on education otherwise than at school and the administration of this by parents. He complained it provided an inadequate personal budget and failed to carry out an appropriate consultation with a new school about his son’s Education Health and Care Plan. The Council failed to properly consider Mr X’s request for a personal budget and his concerns about the budget payments. The Council has agreed to take action to prevent the fault reoccurring and make a payment to recognise the injustice caused.

Devon County Council (22 010 841)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 20-Apr-2023

Summary: Ms D complained that the Council did not investigate her complaint properly and has not secured the provision set out in her child’s EHC plan. We found the Council’s complaint investigation should have been more thorough, but this has not caused significant injustice to Ms D. We do not find that the Council failed to secure SEN provision.

Devon County Council (22 013 835)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 23-Apr-2023

Summary: The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council has failed to amend her daughter’s Education, Health and Care plan, failed to secure an educational placement for her daughter and failed to respond to her emails and phone calls. We find fault by the Council. We make several recommendations to address the injustice caused by these faults.

Devon County Council (22 007 788)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-May-2023

Summary: Mrs X complains about delays in the EHCP process for her daughter, Y. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding of fault by the Council. There were significant delays in the process which resulted in a loss of educational provision and support for Y. The Council have accepted our recommendations.

Devon County Council (22 012 972)

Statement Upheld Child protection 03-May-2023

Summary: I uphold this complaint because the Council was at fault in delaying its response under the statutory process for complaints about children’s services. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing a suitable remedy for the injustice the complainant has been caused.

Devon County Council (22 008 777)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-May-2023

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed completing her daughter, F’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment which has caused a further delay in issuing F’s final EHC plan. The Council was at fault. It delayed obtaining Educational Psychologist advice during the needs assessment which in turn has caused a delay in issuing F’s final EHC plan. The Council agreed to pay Mrs X £500 to acknowledge F’s loss of special education provision and a further £250 to recognise the distress and uncertainty caused to her.

Devon County Council (22 006 644)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-May-2023

Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to provide suitable support for her child as specified in her Education, Health and Care Plan and related matters. We have found the Council to be at fault because it took too long to arrange teaching assistant support when the existing provider left. It also failed to ensure this support was available from the start of the autumn term of 2021. There was also fault with communication and case handling. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss X to acknowledge her frustration and loss of educational support. It will also confirm action it has taken to improve its service.

Devon County Council (22 016 086)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 10-May-2023

Summary: There was fault by the Council in the way it handled two reviews of an Education, Health and Care plan for Ms X and her child. This caused unnecessary frustration, distress, time and trouble. The Council will apologise, make a financial payment and make service improvements. The complaint is upheld.

Devon County Council (22 015 736)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 15-May-2023

Summary: Ms X complains about the Council’s delay in responding to her request for an Education Health and Care Plan Needs Assessment for her child causing distress and uncertainty. We found there was service failure by the Council due to the delay in responding to Ms X’s request. We have recommended a suitable remedy in this case and so have completed our investigation.