Summary: There was fault by the Council. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint by promising to organise a meeting and amend the Education, Health and Care plan. It took six months for the Council to arrange the meeting and the draft plan has not been shared with Mr X over 2 months later. This delay is fault and the Council has apologised and remedied the injustice by making a payment.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, complains the Council has not contacted him to arrange the three actions it proposed in the outcome section of the stage 2 complaint response. Mr X’s complaint relates to the support his son, Y, needs in school. Mr X says the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan needs updating to meet his son’s needs.

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What I have not investigated

2. The Ombudsman cannot help Mr X to change the provisions and school in the EHC plan, he will need to review the plan with the Council and then appeal to the SEND tribunal if he does not agree with the EHC plan.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I read the papers put in by Mr X and discussed the complaint with him.
6. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and any supporting documents it provided.
7. Mr X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

8. Mr X’s son, Y, has an EHC plan.
9. Mr X made an official complaint to the Council that the school was not meeting his son’s needs (as set out in the EHC plan) and that the EHC plan needed amending as it was out of date.
10. The Council replied in June 2022. It is not clear from the letter whether some aspects of the complaint were upheld, but the Council recognised that Mr X was not satisfied with his son’s EHC plan and proposed:

• The Council would meet with Mr X, so his views and evidence would be included in the school’s report on the outcome of the annual review.
• The Council would work with Mr X to produce an amended EHC Plan, if appropriate.
• The Council would produce a draft and then final EHC Plan (if appropriate), giving Mr X a right of appeal to the SEND tribunal.

11. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman that the Council had not carried out the steps it promised in June 2022.
12. The Council has said the meeting with Mr X was on 22 November 2022. The Council is arranging the annual review and has received Mr X’s request for his son’s preferred college for next year. Mr X said that he has had no further contact from the Council since 22 November and has not received a draft yet.
13. The Council has provided evidence that it has met with Mr X. However, it took Mr X making a complaint to the Ombudsman to arrange this meeting, 6 months after the Council proposed it. My view is that the delay in arranging the meeting was fault and the Council should apologise for this. I also consider the Council should ensure the amended draft EHC plan should be sent to Mr X without further delay. Also, the Council should finalise the EHC plan by the phase transfer date of 31 March 2023.
14. I also consider that Y, has been caused injustice by the delay which should be remedied separately. Y is in year 11 and has been waiting for longer than he should have to sort out his post-16 education. I consider a payment of £500, which can be used for something related to education, is a reasonable remedy for Y’s injustice.

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Agreed action

15. Within one month of the date of the decision the Council should apologise to Mr X for the delay and pay Y £500, which can be used for something to support his education.
16. The Council should issue the final EHC plan by 31 March 2023, the final date for finalising a plan from secondary school to a post-16 institution.
17. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

18. I have completed my investigation of this complaint. This complaint is upheld, there was fault by the Council. The actions above remedy the injustice to Mr X and Y, his son.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman