Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 005 108)

Statement Upheld Alternative provision 16-Apr-2024

Summary: The Council took too long to make alternative educational provision for Miss B’s son when he was excluded from school and while he was waiting for a new school place to be confirmed with special educational provision. The Council also did not always communicate with Miss B properly. This caused Miss B distress and frustration and meant that her son went without the education he was entitled to. The Council has agreed to my recommendations to remedy the injustice it has caused.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 004 393)

Statement Upheld Allocations 29-May-2024

Summary: Mr X complained about the way the Council dealt with disrepair at his private rented accommodation and his priority banding on its housing register. We have found fault by the Council in its delay in dealing with the disrepair issues and failing to properly consider his requests for a change in his priority banding. These faults caused injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Mr X, making payments to reflect the upset and worry, and impact of living in unsuitable accommodation for longer than they should have done, together with service improvements.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 011 518)

Statement Upheld Disabled facilities grants 02-Jun-2024

Summary: Ms Y complained on behalf of Mrs X about the time taken by the Council to complete adaptations to Mrs X’s home. We have found the Council at fault for delaying completing adaptations to Mrs X’s property. As a result, Mrs X has lived in her home without adaptations she needed. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise, make a financial payment to Mrs X and Ms Y and look at how it could improve its procedures around communication.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 019 082)

Statement Upheld Noise 31-Jul-2024

Summary: Mr X says the Council has failed to deal with his complaints of noise from a nearby club. He says this caused him and his family distress. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for failing to issue a decision on the noise complaint and the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (22 012 966)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 13-Aug-2024

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to secure the special education provision set out in Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She also complained the Council failed to address concerns about Y’s access to education, or communicate effectively. We have found the Council at fault for failing to conduct an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan, resulting in Y being unable to attend college or receive the provision in the EHC Plan for two academic terms. We have made recommendations to remedy this injustice. There are parts of Mrs X’s complaint we cannot consider. We explain why in the decision statement.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 001 456)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Sep-2024

Summary: Ms X complained the Council has not updated her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan for years meaning she cannot be sure her child is getting the support they need. We have found the Council at fault for not updating the Education, Health and Care Plan and for the way it handled Ms X’s complaints about this. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and make payments to recognise the distress, loss of opportunity and time and trouble she experienced.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (24 005 150)

Statement Upheld Fostering 10-Sep-2024

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s fostering services. The Council has agreed to consider the complaint through the children’s statutory complaint procedure. That is an appropriate resolution to the complaint; it would not be proportionate for us to investigate.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 009 491)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 30-Sep-2024

Summary: There was fault by the Council. It failed to amend Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan following an annual review in December 2021 and failed to complete annual reviews in 2022 or 2023. It also failed to secure the special educational provision in Y’s Plan and delayed responding to Ms X’s complaint. This caused a loss of special educational provision, a loss of appeal rights, avoidable frustration, distress and time and trouble complaining. The Council will issue an apology, make payments for missed educational provision, complete a further annual review and devise a new policy and training for officers.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (23 020 797)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 22-Nov-2024

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care financial assessment. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council completed the financial assessment. There is fault in delay completing an appeal of the financial assessment decision, and sending invoices for payment while the complaint was continuing. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a total payment of £250 to acknowledge the complainant’s distress, time and trouble. We are satisfied with the actions the Council has agreed to take and it is unlikely an investigation would achieve anything further.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (24 010 066)

Report Upheld Special educational needs 10-Feb-2025

Summary: The Council has delayed sending decisions following annual reviews of children and young people’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans. The Council has also delayed carrying out amendments to EHC Plans following annual reviews. This has meant many children and young people are having to wait too long to receive a decision about whether the Council will amend their EHC Plan. For those children and young people where the Council decided to amend the Plan, many of them had to wait too long to receive an updated EHC Plan.