Surrey County Council (21 018 022)

Statement Upheld Child protection 06-Apr-2022

Summary: We will uphold Ms X’s complaint, as the Council delayed considering a complaint at stage two of its corporate complaints’ procedure. The Council has agreed to complete its stage two without further delay and make a payment for the delay so far.

Surrey County Council (21 018 329)

Statement Upheld Other 10-Apr-2022

Summary: Mr X complains a Coroner did not do her job properly. He says wrong information was read out in court and the hearing was not recorded. We cannot investigate the actions of the Coroner or what happened in court. The Council has apologised for failing to record the hearing. Further investigation on this point will not lead to a different outcome.

Surrey County Council (21 007 033)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 19-Apr-2022

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her son, F’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in 2020 and about a failure to provide Occupational Therapy (OT) in line with the Plan. The Council was at fault. It did not issue F’s final EHC Plan in line with statutory timescales and then failed to ensure the OT provision specified in the Plan was in place for the 2020/21 academic year. It also failed to deal with Mrs X’s complaint in a timely manner. The Council agreed to pay Mrs X £500 to recognise the loss of opportunity caused to F and an additional £300 to recognise the distress, uncertainty and time and trouble caused to her.

Surrey County Council (21 011 446)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 20-Apr-2022

Summary: There was a delay in issuing Y’s amended Education, Health and Care Plan which caused his mother Mrs X avoidable uncertainty about whether the Council would continue to fund the provision the next school year. The Council will apologise and pay her £150.

Surrey County Council (21 013 381)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 26-Apr-2022

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to ensure her son received suitable education after he stopped attending school, resulting in loss of education, costs to the family, distress, time and trouble. We have found the Council at fault. We recommended it apologise to Ms X, make payments for time and trouble (£300), distress (£500), missed education (£2000), costs incurred (£7498), take action to ensure Y receives education and provide training to staff to prevent recurrence.

Surrey County Council (21 001 931)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 02-May-2022

Summary: Mr A complains on behalf of Mrs X, his daughter, that the Council has not dealt properly with education provision or Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision for his granddaughter Y. The Council is at fault because it delayed issuing a decision about Y’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), it delayed Mrs X’s appeal rights, used disrespectful language, did not provide a Child In Need (CIN) plan in time and did not postpone a meeting. The Council has made some service improvements. In addition, the Council should apologise, Pay Mrs X £3,000 for missed education provision, Pay Mrs X £500 for distress/outrage, pay Mr A £50 for time and trouble and provide guidance to staff.

Surrey County Council (21 016 582)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 08-May-2022

Summary: There was fault by the Council because it failed to identify promptly that a different council was responsible for funding Mrs Y’s care and support. This caused avoidable confusion and distress. The Council needs to make symbolic payments and arrange training for relevant staff.

Surrey County Council (21 013 360)

Statement Upheld Charging 11-May-2022

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision to charge her daughter for care, causing distress and financial loss. We found no fault in the Council’s decision making but we found fault in its communications. We recommended the Council take action to prevent injustice to others in future.

Surrey County Council (21 018 553)

Statement Upheld Child protection 25-May-2022

Summary: The Council is at fault for delaying its consideration of this complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. However, there is no evidence of fault in how it considered the points raised in the complaint, and we therefore could not add to the investigation already carried out by the Council. The Council has agreed to make a payment to the complainant to reflect the delay in dealing with the complaint.

Surrey County Council (22 000 324)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 30-May-2022

Summary: Mrs R complains the Council wrongly ended her son’s (Child A) personal budget which was used to support his special educational needs. She also complains the Council has delayed in amending Child A’s Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP). We have identified numerous and serious failings by the Council which amount to poor administrative practice in some areas. The Council repeatedly made flawed decisions about Child A’s personal budget based on no clear rationale or criteria. It also failed to provide Mrs R her legal right to challenge the decisions through a clear review process. The Council also failed to adhere to statutory guidance relating to the timeframe for amending an EHCP. Mrs R has suffered serious loss, harm and distress by reason of the Council’s failings. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the serious injustice identified.