Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to provide the necessary support to his family and himself. And, the Council failed to consider his complaint at stage 2 of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.

Summary: Mrs F complains the Council placed her children on a child in need plan without her agreement and wrongly reported the family missing. The Ombudsman has found some fault. The Council has agreed to apologise.

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms J’s complaint that the Council unfairly removed her children from her care, because this action has been reviewed in court. It is unlikely we would find fault in the other issues about which Ms J complains.

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr D’s complaint about the Council’s response to a safeguarding referral about him and the report the Council provided to court. We cannot investigate what happened in court or the actions of the police, and it would have been reasonable for Mr D to raise in court his concerns about the Council’s actions.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the content of a Section 37 report and the conduct of the social worker who produced it. This is because the complaint is outside our jurisdiction with no discretion to investigate.

Summary: Miss C complains that the Council delayed in reviewing her son’s EHC plan, which in turn delayed her appeal resulting in her son missing out on speech and language therapy provision for a term. I have completed my investigation on the basis there was fault in the way the Council dealt with the review. The Council has agreed to offer a financial remedy to Miss C.

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint. It is about the decisions of a Court and there are no compelling enough reasons to investigate events known to Ms X for more than 12 months.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s consideration of his safeguarding referrals about his children. It is unlikely we would achieve a significantly different outcome.

Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate Mr J’s complaints, which centre on the care provided to his children, who are looked after by the Council. It would be reasonable for him to have raised some of the issues in court proceedings, and other issues are outside our jurisdiction or it is unlikely we would find fault or injustice if we investigated.

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the care it gave him as a child. The events are over nine years ago and there are no compelling enough reasons not to apply the late complaint rule.

Summary: The complainant says the Council failed to carry out assessments recommended in a 2014 Statement of Special Educational Needs and repeated in a 2018 Education Health and Care Plan. The complainant says the Council failed to review the Statement or EHC Plan for a student’s transition to post-16 education from year 9 onwards. This resulted in missed provision and support. The Council accepts it did not conduct annual reviews of the Statement or provide the assessment or planning for the transition but did provide home tuition. The Ombudsman finds the Council acted with fault and recommends a remedy to address the injustice.

Summary: Mrs X complains the home to school transport arrangements provided by the Council are not suitable, causing upset to her and her son. The Ombudsman finds no fault by the Council in its consideration of Mrs X’s complaints.

Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate Mr J’s complaint about the way the Council has responded to his safeguarding concerns about his daughter, because it is unlikely we would find fault.

Summary: Mrs B complained that Council Y failed to pay her the correct rate of fostering allowance for Child C when she transferred as a foster carer to a different authority. Council Y accepts it has no records as to why it paid a lower rate for this child and has offered a remedy of £7000. I agree there was fault by Council Y and consider it should pay Mrs B £7000.

Summary: the Council has been unable to recruit a specialist teacher of the deaf to fill a vacant post, but this is not the result of fault by the Council. The Council’s specialist nursery nurse has provided support for B, and when Mr F complained he wanted more support, the Council increased the level of support provided.

Summary: The Council has identified some fault in its handling of assessments and support for a family with a disabled child, and in its approach to the statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to offer a remedy for the distress caused to the complainant, and for her time and trouble in pursuing the complaint.

Summary: Mrs B complained that Council Y failed to pay her the correct rate of fostering allowance for Child C when she transferred as a foster carer to a different authority, Council Z. Council Y accepts it has no records as to why it paid a lower rate for this child and has offered a remedy. I agree there was fault by Council Y and consider its remedy is a reasonable way of putting matters right. I can find no fault in the actions of Council Z.

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms J’s complaint about the Council taking her children into care. This is because we cannot investigate what happened in court, and any issues which could be separated out from this happened too long ago for us to consider.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint that the Council told the complainant’s ex-partner that he could not collect his child from school. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: The Council is considering Mr J’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with his family through the statutory complaints process for complaints about children’s services. So the Ombudsman should not consider the matter further at this stage.

Summary: Ms X complains the Council wrongly declined her application for school transport for her child. She says this has led to health and safety concerns. The Council is at fault. There is no record that it conducted the appeal in line with its policy or considered all the supporting evidence when making its decision. The Council has agreed to offer Ms X a fresh appeal and review its processes for conducting and recording school transport appeals.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council has refused to pay her legal costs caused by its refusal to assess the education and health care needs of her children. The Ombudsman cannot investigate because Ms X appealed to the Tribunal.

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council looking after his child. The Court decided this.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaints about lost and missing files and the Council’s complaints handling. Further consideration of the complaint about lost files could not achieve any more for Ms B. And the Information Commissioner (ICO) is better placed to investigate a complaint about the Council’s handling of Ms B’s personal data. The Ombudsman will not investigate a separate complaint about the Council’s complaints handling.

Summary: The Ombudsman should not investigate Mr G’s complaint about how social workers are handling a child protection case involving his grand-daughter, J. We cannot question the merits of a decision made without fault, and it is unlikely we would find evidence of fault.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr A’s complaint about the Council’s response to an allegation made against him in 2005, and has declined to allow him to complete the complaints procedure. This is because the injustice caused to Mr A is not so significant as to warrant the Ombudsman’s intervention.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about his child’s school. This is because the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction or discretion to investigate the matters complained about.

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council is implementing a court order. The Ombudsman cannot investigate a matter which the court is dealing with. Ms X may raise her concerns at court.