Southend-on-Sea City Council (24 017 679)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to meet the provisions set out in her son Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The Council did not complete the annual review or amend the EHC Plan within the statutory timeframe. Miss X also complained about the Council’s poor communication and delays in its complaints process. The Council was at fault and this caused a loss of provision and undue distress. We also found fault in the Council’s poor record-keeping and failure to properly acknowledge Miss X’s concerns about tutoring. The Council agreed to apologise and make payments to remedy the injustice.

Staffordshire County Council (24 022 715)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: There was delay issuing Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan which caused avoidable uncertainty and missed educational provision. The Council will apologise and make payments to reflect the injustice. The Council will provide us with evidence it has resolved the systemic delay in obtaining Educational Psychology advice across the service.

Hampshire County Council (25 002 356)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to issue her child, Y’s final Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan following an annual review within statutory timescales which caused a delay in Y receiving Occupational Therapy (OT) provision. The Council was at fault. It delayed issuing Y’s amended EHC Plan by 27 weeks following an annual review. It also meant Y lost the opportunity to receive specialist OT provision in the Plan between February and July 2025. The Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X and make payments to recognise Y’s loss of OT provision and the distress and uncertainty caused to her.

London Borough of Barking & Dagenham (24 007 211)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: Mrs B complained the Council failed to provide her son with education and special educational needs provision and failed to keep her up-to-date. The Council had made educational provision available but failed to keep Mrs B up-to-date and be clear about its position on the school assigned to her son. That caused Mrs B uncertainty and distress. An apology, payment to Mrs B and introduction of a process to track reviews of EHC Plans is satisfactory remedy.

Oxfordshire County Council (24 010 440)

Statement Upheld Other 04-Nov-2025

Summary: Mrs X complained about how the Council dealt with its investigation into her concerns that her child’s nursery had been wrongfully charging her compulsory top-up fees which was not allowed by law. Mrs X also complained about the Council’s poor communication with her. There were some faults by the Council which caused injustice to Mrs X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

Slough Borough Council (24 010 953)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: The Council was at fault for failing to ensure Y’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan was reviewed within statutory timescales. The Council also failed to provide Y with suitable alternative educational provision and the specialist provision set out in their EHC Plan after they stopped attending school. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise the impact of Y’s missed education as well as the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused.

Slough Borough Council (25 006 336)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: We upheld Mr X’s complaint about delays in the annual review for his child’s Education, Health and Care Plan in 2025. The Council agreed to apologise and pay Mr X £200. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delay in the Education, Health and Care annual review process in 2024 because the complaint is late.

Leeds City Council (25 007 309)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Education, Health and Care plan process. This is because the Council has agreed to an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.

London Borough of Southwark (25 007 792)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Special educational needs 04-Nov-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the SEN provision made by the Council for Ms X’s child. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our further involvement.

Gloucestershire County Council (25 008 111)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 04-Nov-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a data breach at the complainant’s child’s school. The law prevents us from investigating what happens in schools and about how councils investigate these matters.