Mrs A complained about Bridgend County Council’s handling of the review of her child’s Individual Development Plan (IDP) and the subsequent complaint she made to it. Mrs A complained that the Council did not respond to her complaint in a timely manner and there was a lack of communication throughout. Mrs A also complained about the wording used in the IDP and the time taken to ensure it was correct was outside of statutory guidelines.
The Ombudsman decided there had been a delay in the Council issuing the complaint response and that it failed to properly explain the reasons for the amendments to the first draft IDP. It was also unclear what period the IDP covered and when the next review would be undertaken. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without a formal investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to, within 4 weeks, apologise for the delay in its response, provide clarification around the wording of the first draft of the IDP, review the timeline within which the draft response should have been issued, and confirm with Mrs A when and how the next review would be undertaken.