Special Educational Needs: Complaints
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department maintains records of local authorities that have received multiple Ombudsman findings relating to failures in the delivery of Education, Health and Care Plans, SEND assessments or statutory timescales; and what criteria are used to determine whether additional intervention, monitoring or formal action is required in cases of persistent non-compliance.
Answered by Department for Education
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is independent of government and publishes information about complaints and findings relating to local authorities, including matters concerning special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Annual local government complaint reviews can be found on the LGSCO website.
The department considers a range of evidence to ensure local authorities are held to account. This includes Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection outcomes, outcomes for children and young people, and local improvement activity. All local areas are due to receive a full inspection under the current Ofsted / CQC Area SEND inspection framework by the end of 2027.
Decisions on whether additional monitoring, support or intervention are required are taken on a case-by-case basis and informed by the nature of identified concerns. Repeated ombudsman findings may contribute to the wider evidence considered by the department when assessing local authority performance and determining appropriate improvement and intervention activity.
Where serious concerns arise, the department may intervene directly, using statutory powers and improvement partners to support recovery and improve services for children and young people.
In our response to the SEND consultation and throughout the reforms themselves, we will set out how we will make local partnership working more effective and support all partners to drive SEND reforms across all local areas.
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