Complain!

This is an amazing parent we supported.. They won.. It was worth it to push through as actually, compensation aside, this family DESERVED an apology!

Complaint reference:

20 001 263

Complaint against:

Stoke-on-Trent City Council

The complaint

Mrs X complained about Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s (the Council’s) Education,

Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and plan process for her son Y. She

complained:

a) the Council took too long to issue the final EHC plan, issued multiple draft

plans with confusing layouts and relied on out-of-date information that did not

reflect Y’s current needs.

b) the Educational Psychologist (EP) made inappropriate comments and

completed the report without seeing Y.

c) Y did not have appropriate education for 12 months.

Mrs X said the Council’s failings caused:

• A loss of education for Y

• A financial loss because she had to obtain a private educational psychology

report

• Avoidable anxiety and distress.

Agreed action

I found the Council was at fault and this fault caused injustice described in the previous section.

To remedy the injustice, the Council will, within one month of my final statement:

• Apologise to Mrs X for the fault and injustice

• Reimburse her the cost of the private EP report. We do not generally recommend reimbursement of private reports, but in this case, it is appropriate because the EP refused to update his report despite Mrs X raising concerns directly with the EP about his report being out-of-date and about Y’s condition and behaviour having deteriorated since the EP’s last observation. I have also taken into account that Mrs X also raised concerns directly with the Council

about information in the report in October, before she organised a private report. It was therefore reasonable of her to pay for a private report in order to get an up-to-date assessment of Y’s SEN.

• Makes a payment of £2000 to reflect Y’s loss of special education provision between November 2019 and March 2020. This is in line with our published

Final decision

Guidance on Remedies which sets out a guideline for each month of lost education.

• Makes Mrs X a payment of £250 to reflect her avoidable distress.

I have not made any recommendations about service improvements to the hub, because I am satisfied the Council is already taking action to improve the hub by working with those who use it and considering a different provider.

Final decision

There was fault by the Council in the Education, Health and Care needs assessment and planning process for Y. This fault caused a loss of special education provision. It also caused Mrs X, his mother, a financial loss and avoidable distress. The Council will apologise and make payments described in this statement.