The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to deliver provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council has offered a suitable remedy and an investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained her son (Y) failed to receive the Occupational Therapy (OT) contained in his Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mrs X says the Council failed to respond to an offer from an OT provider and gave her misleading information about why it had not delivered the OT provision.
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: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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 response to Mrs X’s complaint the Council accepted Y did not receive the OT in his EHC Plan between September and December 2023. The Council offered a total remedy of £1400.
While I understand Mrs X’s frustrations, we will not start an investigation into her complaint. Regardless of why Mrs X’s son did not receive his OT provision, I have not seen any evidence the remedy offered by the Council is inappropriate. It is in line with our Guidance on Remedies which we use to calculate payments in cases like this. Also, we have considered a previous complaint from Mrs X which included a similar issue. We made various recommendations, and it is unlikely an investigation would lead to us suggesting further service improvements.
An investigation by the Ombudsman would therefore be unlikely to lead to a higher payment or lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it would be unlikely to lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman