A weekly update on children and education complaint decisions

Summary: Miss B complained on behalf of her son, Mr C, that the Council failed to ensure an effective transition of social work services when he turned 18. In particular, that he had to leave a children’s home placement and move to a supported living placement 30 miles away. This left him further from his family and place of education, for which the Council initially failed to provide transport. Miss B says as a result Mr C became isolated from her and missed half a term of education. Miss B says the Council knew Mr C experiences anxiety and has a history of self-harming and its actions put him at increased risk of these behaviours. Miss B says she also suffered her own distress being unable to see Mr C as often as before.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council delayed the education, health and care plan process for her child. The Council acknowledged it failed to adhere to the statutory timescales. The Council is at fault and this caused distress and uncertainty to Ms X and her child was without educational provision for nearly seven months. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy this injustice.

Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to provide an education for her child. She said this impacted her work and caused her unnecessary distress. She said her child missed out on education and it impacted their mental health and self-esteem. We find service failure which caused injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to remedy the injustice caused.

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council has delayed in carrying out an Education, Health, and Care needs assessment and in issuing a EHC Plan for her son. The Council’s delay in the EHC Plan process and in issuing a final Plan are fault. This fault has caused Mrs X an injustice which the Council has now remedied.

Summary: We upheld Mr X’s complaint about delays in the Education, Health and Care process regarding his child, Y, after the Council conceded before a SEND Tribunal hearing was held. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the panel for us to be able to question its decision.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a teacher. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. We have no remit to consider the actions of teachers.

Summary: Ms X complains the Council delayed finalising and issuing her child’s education, health and care plan. The Council is at fault for the delays and for not ensuring the child’s needs were met for a period of 18 months. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice to Ms X and her child.

Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to properly consider his concerns about his children and maintain his contact with them. The Council found fault during its complaints process but failed to carry out the recommendations agreed. The Council has therefore agreed to carry out the recommendations from the complaints process.

Summary: Mrs X complains that the Council failed to make suitable alternative education provision for her child, Y, and refused her request for a personal budget. The Council is at fault as it delayed in considering its duty to provide suitable alternative provision, delayed in commissioning the provision and delayed in issuing Y’s Education, Health and Care plan. The delays caused distress to Mr and Mrs X which the Council will apologise for and make a symbolic payment of £500 to them. The Council will also make a symbolic payment of £300 to Y to acknowledge the disadvantage caused to them by the delay in issuing the Education, Health and Care plan and a symbolic payment of £250 to acknowledge they missed three weeks of tuition.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council delayed her child, Y’s annual review process and delayed issuing Y’s amended Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan following an annual review in January 2023. The Council was at fault for the delay in the annual review process. It was also at fault for the delay in issuing Y’s final amended EHC Plan following the annual review. The Council will apologise to Ms X for the delays and pay her a symbolic payment.

Summary: Miss X complained the Council delayed issuing her child, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in line with statutory timescales. Miss X also complained the Council failed to provide Y with suitable education while they could not attend school. The Council was at fault when it delayed issuing Y’s EHC Plan and caused uncertainty if Y received a suitable education between late February 2023 and November 2023. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and carry out service improvements.

Summary: the Council delayed putting in place alternative provision when Mrs B’s daughter could not attend school. An apology, payment to Mrs B, reminder to officers and provision of evidence to show the measures the Council has put in place to address the issues with alternative provision is satisfactory remedy.

Summary: Ms C complains the Council delayed in assessing X for an Education Health and Care Plan and for failing to keep her informed. The Council is at fault for delays in the assessment process and in keeping Ms C updated. These faults caused Ms C frustration, time and anxiety. To put things right the Council has agreed to make Ms C a symbolic payment and take action to improve services.

Summary: The Council failed to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs assessment for Mr X’s child, Y, within the statutory timeframes. This caused distress, frustration and uncertainty to the family. We are satisfied with the service improvements the Council is carrying out to resolve this issue. The Council will apologise and make a payment to recognise the personal injustice to Mr X and Y.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the panel for us to be able to question its decision.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s children’s social care provision because the complaint is out of time.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s consideration of a potential child protection matter. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our further involvement.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about safeguarding concerns about the complainants’ children. This is because it concerns matters that have been or could be raised in court.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about a data breach. This is because complaints about data matters such as this are best considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Summary: There was a seven-month delay issuing Y’s final Education, Health and Care Plan and a failure to review Y’s alternative provision between May 2022 and March 2023 to include provision for his social and emotional needs which caused a loss of special educational provision and alternative provision. Communication with Ms X and complaint handling was poor. The fault caused Ms X avoidable frustration, time and trouble, distress and a delay in appeal rights. The Council will apologise and make payments.

Summary: There was delay by the Council carrying out an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The Council remedied this complaint before it was made to the Ombudsman by issuing the plan with the parents preferred school and making a payment. Mr X said the payment was not enough, as it did not cover a terms school fees. As the remedy is greater than in our remedy guidance for loss of education for a term and it is not certain the school would have been named if the delay had not occurred, no additional remedy is recommended.

Summary: We uphold a complaint about delay in Y’s Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment and Plan, mainly caused by a shortage of Educational Psychologists. The Council will apologise and make payments to reflect the delay and loss of educational provision. We also uphold a complaint about a failure to consider and put in place alternative education for Y when she became unwell and could not attend school. The Council will make a payment for this as well.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide Miss X’s child with free transport to school. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the actions of the Council in respect of a matter involving the headteacher and governors of a school. The matter complained does not involve an administrative function of the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the payments made by the Council to a residential provider for children and young people in respect of a resident placed by there by the Council. The matter complained of is one where Mr X has a right to go to court it would be reasonable to use.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the delay in issuing the complainant’s child with an Education Health and Care plan. This is because the Council has agreed to provide an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when it deregistered Mr X as a foster carer. Parts of Mr X’s complaint are late and there is another body better suited to consider the other parts of his complaint.

Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to start care proceedings and about the information it provided to the court because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been subject to court proceedings. We have no discretion to do so.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in court proceedings. The law prevents us from doing so.

Summary: The Council was at fault for delaying changes to Ms B’s son’s special educational needs support, which included a delay to finding him a new school. It could also have done more to ensure that he received any sort of education while he was out of school. It then failed to deal with some of Ms B’s complaints properly. It has agreed to make symbolic payments to Ms B and her son to recognise their injustice, to respond to any outstanding complaints, and to take steps to improve its service.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council taking child protection action concerning Miss X’s child. The matters complained of are not separable from matters that were or could reasonably have been raised during court action.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to award school transport to Mr X’s child because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

Summary: Ms P complained the Council unfairly made changes to a short breaks plan which had been working well for her son. We found the Council at fault for a delay in carrying out its short breaks plan review, and in failing to follow the statutory complaints process. The Council has agreed to make a symbolic payment to Ms P in acknowledgement of the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because complaints about data matters such as this are best considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement in her grandchildren’s care. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. We have no remit to look at matters linked to court proceedings.

Summary: Ms X complained about how the Council funded her son’s education. The Council was at fault for failing to have suitable oversight of how it funded Z’s education and in how it decided to reduce Z’s funding. This allowed the funds to be misused and meant Z did not receive all the special educational provision he needed. The Council will review Z’s Education, Health and Care Plan, and put this Ombudsman’s decision to its family and children’s services overview and scrutiny committee.

Summary: Mrs J complained on behalf of her son that the Council has failed to provide his education and specialist provision in line with his Education, Health and Care Plan since June 2021. Due to restrictions on our jurisdiction we have investigated what happened from January to August 2023. We found no fault.

Summary: Miss X complained the Council delayed arranging a mediation meeting following its decision not to issue her child, F with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The Council delayed arranging mediation by two months which was not in line with legal timescales. Its complaint handling was also poor. The Council agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X and carry out reminders to relevant staff.

Summary: Mr X complains on behalf of his son, Y, the Council failed to obtain advice and information from an Educational Psychologist within the statutory timescales as part of the Education Health Care needs assessment. Mr X says this has caused his son and family distress. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for not completing the Education Health Care needs assessment or issuing Y’s Plan within the required statutory timescales. The Council has agreed to issue an apology and financial payment.

Summary: Miss X complains on behalf of her son, Y, the Council failed to issue an EHC Plan within the statutory timescale. Miss X says this has resulted in Y being in an unsuitable setting and has caused both him and her family distress. We have found fault in the Councils actions for delaying in issuing the EHC Plan. The Council has agreed to issue an apology and make a financial payment and service improvements.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not providing the educational provision specified in an Education, Health and Care plan. The Council has accepted it was at fault and provided a suitable remedy for any injustice caused. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: The Ombudsman previously recommended the Council respond to Mrs X’s stage two statutory children’s complaint within 65 working days. We opened this complaint to investigate the Council’s apparent failure to comply with our recommendations. We have ended this investigation because Mrs X has begun court action against the Council.

Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about child protection. The principal matters complained of are not separable from matters that were or could reasonably have been raised during court proceedings. Any separable matters relating to data disclosure are ones the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed than us to consider.

Summary: We have upheld this complaint about delay in the children’s statutory complaints procedure. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the actions of the Council’s children social services and its decision to place her child on a child protection plan. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.