The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed issuing a final Education Health and Care Plan. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by offering to make a suitable payment to the complainant to remedy the injustice this cause.
The complaint
Miss X complains that the Council delayed issuing a final Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan for her child after it carried out an annual review.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended.
Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely that we would find fault. This is because the Council delayed issuing a final EHC Plan for Miss X’s by more than two months.
We have recently upheld other complaints about delays with the Council issuing final EHC plans following reviews, and we have made recommendations around service improvements which the Council has agreed to implements. I am satisfied with these service improvements and so have therefore not recommended anything further here.
However, the delays have caused Miss X distress in the form of frustration and uncertainty. I therefore recommended the Council write to Miss X within one month to apologise for the delays and to offer her a payment of £100 to remedy the distress this caused. To its credit, the Council agreed to my recommendation.
Final decision
We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing the complainant with a suitable remedy.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman