Southend-on-Sea City Council (20 011 908)

Category: Children's care services Date: 06-Jun-2022

Summary

Mr and Mrs X complained about delays in reviewing their daughter’s Education Health and Care plan and how it investigated their complaints. The Council properly investigated Mr and Mrs X’s complaints. However, it did not properly apologise or recognise the impact on them of the failures it accepted. The Council agreed to apologise fully, pay Mr and Mrs X an improved financial remedy and review how it manages statutory children’s complaints.

Service improvements

Southend-on-Sea City Council (20 011 744)

Category: Children's care services Date: 12-Oct-2022

Summary

Ms X complained about how the Council dealt with social work assessments for her son, and how it dealt with her complaints about the matter. As a result she says she and her son have not received the support they need and she has incurred costs in providing a report. We find that the Council carried out the latest social work assessment properly. There was some fault in earlier assessments which was unlikely to have affected the outcome. We recommend that the Council remind relevant staff across all social work teams of the need to consider and record whether the child involved in an assessment is a disabled child.

Service improvements