The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) also found the council unsatisfactorily dealt with a complaint made by a single mother of a disabled child, reports Marco Marcelline

Waltham Forest Council failed to review its support for disabled children even after an independent investigator recommended it to do so.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found the council unsatisfactorily dealt with a complaint made by Ms X, a single mother of a disabled child.

At the end of July 2023, Ms X and Y moved into a new property after the council decided a previous property was not suitable for Y’s needs.

As part of the council’s assessment an occupational therapist reviewed the new property and Y’s needs. In September 2023, the therapist provided their report to the council. It set out that major adaptations were needed to the property to meet Y’s safety and supervision needs.

The council accepted the therapist’s recommendations in September, completed the child and family assessment in October and provided Ms X with a copy at the end of that month.

But in November, Ms X contacted the council about “errors” that she had identified in the assessment, stating that it had not properly identified Y’s needs.

Ms X then officially complained to the council in January 2024 about how it had completed and communicated the outcome of the child and family assessment to her. She also complained about how it had not met Y’s social care needs and that it delayed reviewing his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.

The council responded to Ms X’s complaint at stage one of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. Ms X was dissatisfied with the council’s response and asked it to consider her complaint at stage two of the complaints procedure.

The council then appointed an Investigating Officer (IO) and Independent Person (IP) to investigate Ms X’s complaint. They met with Ms X in March 2024 and agreed a statement of complaint. Ms X raised 13 points of complaint.

Ms X’s desired outcomes were to receive a full apology for the council’s faults, for the costs of holiday activities she had arranged for Y to be paid, for the outstanding tasks to be completed without delay, which included the adaptations to her home, and for an independent review of the council’s system of support for children with disabilities.

The IO considered the available documentary evidence, interviewed key council staff members, and Ms X. They completed the investigation in August 2024. The investigation upheld nine complaints including that the council had failed to address Y’s identified needs, and that it had delayed completing a child and family assessment for one month, delayed providing a copy of it to Ms X and did not communicate the delay with her.

They also found that because the council had closed Y’s case without meeting his needs, Ms X had to pay for holiday activities for him and there was an outstanding bill to be paid.

The council failed to complete the identified adaptations to Ms X’s property in a timely manner following the OT assessment in August 2023, due to the process or system of agreeing and commissioning work being fragmented and unresponsive to people’s immediate needs.

Because the council had closed Y’s case without meeting his needs, Ms X had to pay for holiday activities for him and there was an outstanding bill to be paid.

The council said it would review all the points made by the IO and would implement any learning points, but did not provide any evidence it reviewed, identified and implemented any learning points or improvements.

The ombudsman also found that the council had either failed to respond to the recommendations, or failed or delayed completing the recommendations made during the statutory complaints procedure.

Following the ombudsman’s ruling, the council agreed to apologise to the mother and pay her £500 for the frustration, uncertainty and erosion of trust caused by its handling of her complaints. It will also write to her to tell her if it will complete an independent review of its system of support for children with disabilities.

Kizzy Gardiner, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “Caring for our young people with special educational needs or disabilities is one of the most important roles we play. We work hard to provide a reliable service on which families can rely, and their confidence in us is critical.

“We know that our performance in this instance was well below what residents would rightly expect. I apologise unreservedly to Ms X for her experience. We accept the ombudsman’s findings, and we are currently in the process of delivering enhanced training for officers and reviewing our internal processes in response. Additionally, we have paid Ms X compensation and reimbursed her the cost of the holiday activities for which she should not have been charged.”

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