Kent County Council (25 008 685)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Mar-2026

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council did not complete an interim review of her child’s Education Health and Care Plan. She said this impacted her child’s education and emotional wellbeing. We find the Council at fault which caused injustice. We are satisfied the Council’s actions have remedied the injustice caused.

Kent County Council (25 006 524)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 25-Feb-2026

Summary: Miss Y complained about the Council’s assessment process and its decision that her mother should move from residential care to extra care housing. She also complained about the Council’s failure to make reasonable adjustments when communicating with her mother. We do not find fault in the Council’s assessment process or its decision. However, we do find fault in the Council’s failure to consistently meet her mother’s reasonable adjustment needs, but we are satisfied this did not cause a significant injustice.

Kent County Council (25 014 095)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 18-Feb-2026

Summary: We upheld Mrs X’s complaint about delays in finalising her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan following an annual review meeting. The Council upheld the complaint and agreed to remedy Mrs X’s injustice by providing a financial remedy of £500 in line with the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a loss of educational provision. This is because most of this is closely linked to tribunal proceedings and the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate the period which the law would allow us to consider because the injustice is not significant enough.

Kent County Council (24 022 560)

Statement Upheld Other 16-Feb-2026

Summary: Mr X says the Council wrongly said his nursery had charged a compulsory top up fee, reached that decision without giving him an opportunity to comment and treated him differently to other nurseries that operate in the same way. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision about the charges Mr X’s nursery was making or evidence it treated him differently to other nurseries. However, the Council did not give Mr X an opportunity to comment before telling him to refund the parents’ fee. That caused him frustration. An apology and guidance for officers handling complaints is satisfactory remedy.

Kent County Council (25 003 233)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 13-Feb-2026

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed her son Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan annual review and failed to act on a personal budget request. She said the Council made errors in the amended EHC Plan and failed to correct them. Mrs X also complained the Council delayed reimbursing invoices for provision and delayed responding to her Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints. We find fault in the Council’s actions. This caused financial loss, undue distress, time and trouble to Mrs X. The Council has agreed actions to remedy the injustice caused.

Kent County Council (25 005 438)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 10-Feb-2026

Summary: Mrs B complained about the Council’s failure to approve 2:1 support for her son Mr C at one of his placements for over a year. We found fault in the actions of the Council which caused Mrs B frustration and distress. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs B and increase the symbolic payment to her to £500.

Kent County Council (25 012 261)

Statement Upheld Fostering 09-Feb-2026

Summary: We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in applying for a passport for a child she fosters. The Council have agreed to resolve the complaint by offering a suitable remedy.

Kent County Council (25 001 723)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Feb-2026

Summary: Mrs F complained about the Council’s handling of her son’s education and special educational needs provision. The Council has accepted there was a delay in holding an annual review and responding to Mrs F’s complaint. The Council should make symbolic payments to Mrs F to remedy the distress and time and trouble this caused. We have not found fault in the other parts of Mrs F’s complaint.

Kent County Council (24 022 185)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-Feb-2026

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her son’s education. We found fault because the Council did not send formal documentation linked to appeal rights for his Education, Health and Care Plan when it should have done, it failed to properly consider its duties to deliver education when he could not attend school and communication and complaint handling were poor. This caused Mrs X and her son avoidable distress and uncertainty. To remedy this injustice, the Council will apologise to Mrs X and make a payment.

Kent County Council (24 016 708)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 26-Jan-2026

Summary: The Council was at fault. It failed to provide all Mrs X’s child, Y’s, Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan provision, delayed putting a personal budget in place for Y’s provision and delayed responding to Mrs X’s complaints. The Council has already paid Mrs X £5,000 to acknowledge Y’s lost provision between September 2024 and April 2025 and her time and trouble. The Council will also apologise and pay Mrs X a symbolic payment to acknowledge her distress with Y’s personal budget up to July 2025 and avoidable time and trouble caused by the Council’s failings with complaint handling for Mrs X’s second complaint. The Council has already put in place service improvements.