Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delays in the Education Health and Care Plan process. This is because the Council has agreed to an appropriate remedy for the delay.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to complete the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process for his son, Y, in accordance with the statutory deadlines. He says he requested an assessment on 19 July 2023 and the Council agreed to assess Y on 8 September 2023, but it has not yet completed the process or issued Y an EHC Plan.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’  and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code and our Guidance on Remedies.

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My assessment

6. The Council is required to carry out needs assessments and give notice of its decision about whether to issue an EHC Plan within 16 weeks from the date of the request for an assessment. If it decides to issue an EHC Plan it must do so within 20 weeks. Mr X complained to us 25 weeks after his initial request as the Council had still not decided whether to issue Y an EHC Plan.
7. The Council has accepted delay in completing Y’s assessment and deciding whether to issue him an EHC Plan. It has explained that a lack of Educational Psychologists has contributed to the delay. The failure to issue a decision amounts to service failure.
8. We are satisfied the Council is taking action to deal with the issues caused by a lack of Educational Psychologists. In response to our findings in a previous case it sent us an action plan of its service improvements.
9. The Council has agreed to the following actions to remedy Mr X’s complaint:
• Apologise to Mr X for the delay in the EHC Plan process;
• Pay Mr X £100 for each four weeks of delay. In the event the Council decides to issue an EHC plan this should be calculated from 6 December 2023 until the date the final Plan is issued. If it decides not to issue a plan, the amount should be calculated from 8 November 2023 until the Council notified Mr X of its decision. The Council will make this payment within four weeks of sending Mr X the final EHC Plan, or notifying him of its decision not to issue a Plan.
10. I consider the remedy agreed by the Council is suitable and that it is taking steps to address the issue at the heart of this complaint. It is therefore unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for Mr X.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has offered a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by its delay.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman