The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to issue an amended Education Health and Care plan. This is because it is unlikely, we could add to the investigation carried out by the Council. Any injustice caused to the complainant regarding comments the Council made about her is not significant enough to justify our further involvement.
The complaint
Mrs X complains that the Council failed to issue an amended Education Health and Care (EHC) plan following an annual review. Mrs X also complains about comments made by the Council in notes submitted to a panel.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In March 2023, the Council held an annual review of Mrs X’s child’s EHC plan but did not issue an amended plan. The Council said that whilst the provision would not have changed following the review, it accepted it should have issued an amended plan to make changes to some of the wording. The Council apologised to Mrs X for not issuing an amended plan and offered to make a payment to her of £500 to remedy the distress this caused. Mrs X also complained to the Council about comments that were made about her in panel notes, which she considered to be derogatory.
I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a failure to issue her child’s EHC plan. This is because the Council has upheld her complaint and proposed remedies in line with what we would seek to achieve. Therefore, further investigation could not add to the one carried out by the Council.
I will also not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about comments made about her in panel notes. Whilst I note that Mrs X considers them to be derogatory, I do not consider that the comments have caused her an injustice significant enough to justify investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs’s complaint because we cannot add to the investigation carried out by the Council and any injustice caused by comments made in the panel notes is not significant enough to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman