Council failed to take actions in mediation agreement and provide updates by set deadlines, Ombudsman finds

The woman behind the complaint, Miss Y, complained about the council failing to carry out the actions set out in an agreement following mediation in May 2025 for it to:

• reassess her son Z for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan;
• return the case to the Placement Panel because of safeguarding concerns;
• meet with his school;
• contact the speech and language therapist (SALT) for an assessment referral;
• contact the occupational therapist (OT) for an assessment referral; and
• make a referral to Early Help support.

In addition, she complained about the council failing to communicate with her properly, deliver the provision set out in Z’s EHC plan, arrange a personal budget following an upheld complaint and act on safeguarding concerns she raised.

Outlining the background to the case, the Ombudsman said there was a mediation meeting held in May at which there was an agreement reached between Miss Y and the council.

Under it, the council agreed to take actions within set time scales. It agreed to act on each by 22 May and provide Miss Y with an update by 4 June.

Miss Y later complained that the council failed to comply with the agreement and failed to communicate with her properly about it.

At stage 1 of the complaints procedure, the council accepted that communication by the dates set out in the agreement “fell below standards expected”. It upheld this part of her complaint.

However, it did not accept her complaint about lost educational opportunity as Z had school 2 named in his EHC plan and had attended school 1 with an attendance rate of 94%.

Looking at the complaint that the council failed to meet with school 1 and 2 despite saying it would in the agreement, the Ombudsman found “nothing to show the council took action required by the agreement by 22 May”, and “nothing to show Miss Y was given an update by 4 June as required”.

This was the same for the council’s agreement to refer Z to Early Help Support.

The Ombudsman described this as an injustice.

Turning to the complaint regarding the council’s communication, the Ombudsman found: “Without going through every item of communication between Miss Y and the Council, I am satisfied, on balance, there were communication failures which the Council accepted.

“This includes, as I have also noted on her complaints about the agreement, the Council’s failure to provide her with updates under the agreement by the required dates. These failures caused Miss Y injustice.”

To remedy the injustice caused, the council was recommended to:

• Send a written apology to Miss Y for the failures to: ensure proper records were kept of officer action; meet timescales set out in the mediation agreement without delay; give her correct advice about eligibility for personal budgets; send her an application form for a personal budget as it said it would.
• Pay £250 to Miss Y for the injustice caused by the fault found.
• Remind relevant officers of the need to make, and retain, records of key contact with third parties on cases.
• Review why deadlines in the mediation agreement were not kept and act to ensure action is taken to ensure they are kept in the future.
• Send her an application for a personal budget along with advice about them.

Derby City Council declined to comment.

Lottie Winson