Complaints regarding Solihull children’s services have decreased overall, although a noticeable rise in complaints concerning support for children with special educational needs has been highlighted.
This issue was discussed during the recent meeting of the children’s services and education scrutiny board, where councillors reviewed a report covering the period from April last year to March this year.
Caroline Lear, the council’s customer relations manager, reported that there were 67 complaints related to children’s social care services during this period, representing a 15 per cent decrease compared to 79 complaints the previous year. Notably, the number of children accessing these services also declined by 12 per cent, meaning complaints were received from only 1.7 per cent of service users.
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Furthermore, the council received 112 compliments for its children’s services in the same timeframe.
However, complaints about the council’s Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) team, which supports children and young people with special educational needs, have significantly increased. There were 88 new formal complaints about the EHCP team compared to just 29 the previous year.
Ms Lear emphasised that despite this increase, only a small number of these complaints have progressed to investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Councillor Samantha Gethen raised concerns that four EHCP-related complaints were upheld by the ombudsman, resulting in payments totalling £5,250 to complainants. She asked whether, with the rise in EHCPs, there might be further such payouts and how these would be budgeted.
Jane Sowerby, assistant director of education at Solihull Council, responded that the payouts were largely from legacy cases and she expected fewer going forward. She highlighted improvements introduced by Jameel Mullen, the council’s head of service for EHCPs, noting that although it is not possible to get every case right, the majority are being handled well. Despite the likely rise in EHCPs, she did not anticipate an increase in related payouts.
Councillor James Johnson, drawing on his experience as a teacher, suggested that anxiety over impending reforms might be contributing to the increased complaints. He also queried whether the EHCP team had the capacity to handle the increase in applications.
Ms Sowerby reassured councillors that the team is well-staffed and currently meets the 20-week legal timeframe for completing plans in a high percentage of cases. She confirmed that the council continuously monitors team capacity to ensure it meets demand.
The scrutiny board meeting took place at the Civic Suite on 28 July.