Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to provide provision detailed in an Education Health and Care plan. This is because the Council has upheld the complaint and provided a suitable remedy. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would unlikely add to the one carried out by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council failed to arrange input from an Educational Psychologist (EP) for her two children for a full school year. Mrs X says this has caused her distress and inconvenience and has impacted her children’s education.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s children have an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan. Section F of the EHC plan outlines the Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision that must be met by the Council and states that an EP should work with Mrs X’s daughter’s once a term.
6. The Council upheld Mrs X’s complaint. It accepted that the EP provision had not been in place for a school year. It acknowledged that this had caused Mrs X distress, that she had been to time and trouble raising the issue and that her daughter’s had not received the SEN provision they were entitle to. The Council offered to make payments totalling £900 to remedy this injustice.
7. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because the Council has fully 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.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman