Investigation reveals 170 delayed children’s services and education complaints in Kent

A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) investigation has uncovered a backlog of 170 unanswered children’s services and education complaints in Kent.

The Ombudsman was asked to investigate after Kent County Council failed to respond to a mother’s complaint that her son had not been provided with the Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), as set out in his Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), for more than 13 months.

When the Ombudsman asked the council for further evidence about its complaints process, it confirmed it had 141 overdue Special Educational Needs (SEND) stage one complaints. It also had a further 29 overdue SEND stage two complaints.

The council reported the average response time for stage one complaints was 43 working days and 51 working days for stage two – both far exceeding the 20-day timescale set out in the council’s policy.

Paul Najsarek, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said that, according to KCC, the delays in dealing with complaints are due to low staffing levels and high workloads, adding: “But this cannot excuse the council from performing its duty to these parents.”

“With such systemic issues in responding to complaints, I am concerned that there is a potential for significant ongoing injustice to many of the county’s children until the council gets on top of this backlog.

“Therefore, I am pleased the council has accepted my recommendations not only to improve its complaints handling but also its Education, Health and Care Plan process to ensure other children in the county are not put to a disadvantage.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman remedies injustice and shares learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services. In this case the council has agreed to apologise to the mother and her child and pay them a combined £1,800 for their time and trouble, frustration and distress and lack of SALT provided to the child for 13 months.

It will also pay £100 a month, for every month the SALT was not set up from January 2023 until the SALT provision is in place, to be used for the child’s benefit.

The Ombudsman has the power to make recommendations to improve processes for the wider public. In this case the council has agreed to write to each of the 170 people identified to apologise for its delay responding to their stage one and two complaints.

It has also agreed to review its EHC Plan procedures to ensure statutory timescales are met and that it communicates with parents appropriately throughout the process.

It will also develop an action plan to show how it intends to address ongoing delays with EHC Plan annual reviews and complaints about them.

A spokesperson for Kent County Council said: “We recognise that we have fallen short of the performance people have a right to expect of us. We apologised unreservedly for these shortfalls last year following the Ofsted revisit. That apology remains in place for those families who continue to be affected by unacceptable delays on Education, Health and Care Plan processes, and by the way we have handled their complaints.

“We take this issue extremely seriously and accept the recommendations made by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). We are already working to tackle the backlog and are putting in place measures to improve the way we handle enquiries and complaints. Over the coming weeks we will be actioning the recommendations as set out by the LGSCO. This includes writing to the individual families affected by the complaints backlog to apologise for the unacceptable delays they have faced.

“We are also making long-term, sustainable changes, to the Education, Health and Care Plan processes, including annual reviews, and our ability to meet statutory timescales. And we are prioritising the improvement of our communications with families.

“These changes are part of the system-wide improvements we are implementing with our partners in the NHS and in education to improve the outcomes and experiences for children and young people with SEND, and their families.”