The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide Mr X’s child Y with provision he was entitled to and its delay in issuing an EHC Plan. This is because the Council has accepted fault and offered a proportionate financial award to remedy the injustice caused to Y. Further investigation is not likely to warrant a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to update his child Y’s EHC Plan with SALT (speech and language therapy) provision he was granted in 2018. He also said the Council timed its completion of Y’s 2022 EHC Plan to stop him using his appeal rights. Mr X said this caused Y to lose out on provision he was entitled to.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We have decided not to investigate the complaint further because the Council has upheld Mr X’s complaint regarding Y’s SALT provision and accepted it delayed in producing an EHC Plan. The Council has agreed to remedy the complainant’s injustice by providing a financial award which represents the provision Y lost out on. We will not investigate the contents of the EHC Plan as this is not within our jurisdiction, it is open to Mr X to pursue this aspect of the complaint at Tribunal. The suggested award is in line with what we would have recommended had the Council not accepted the fault and so, further investigation is unlikely to achieve anything.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has offered a reasonable remedy which addresses the injustice suffered due to its actions.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman