Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to provide a full copy of an EHCP and appendices. This is because it is unlikely we will find the Council to have caused significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs A, complains that the Council has failed to provide a full copy of her daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and its appendices.
2. Mrs A feels the missing information means the staff looking after her daughter will be unable to get a clear picture of her needs and how best to address these.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs A and the Council. I also considered our Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council has confirmed Mrs A has been provided with a full copy of her daughter’s EHCP.
6. The Council has confirmed all the appendices to the EHCP are stored on their system in a way that is accessible to whichever professionals need to access it.
7. Mrs A has not provided any specific examples of relevant parties being unable to access the documentation or issues this has created.
8. Although the documentation is not all kept in one PDF, how the Council stores the documents has not prevented the EHCP from being followed.

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Final decision

9. My decision is we should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we would be able to say the council has caused an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman