Summary: We will not investigate Mrs 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, Mrs X, complains the Council failed to complete the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process for her daughter, Y, in accordance with the statutory deadlines. She requested an assessment on 23 January 2023 but the Council has not yet completed the process.

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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 Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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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.
7. The Council initially refused to assess Y but agreed to reconsider the case and then to carry out a full assessment on 2 June 2023. It has now agreed to issue an EHC Plan but has yet to complete the process and issue the final Plan. It should have completed the process by 8 September 2023.
8. The Council accepts it has not complied with the statutory time limits and has explained that a lack of Educational Psychologists contributed to its delay. The failure to meet the relevant time limits amounts to service failure.
9. 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.
10. The Council has agreed to the following actions to remedy Mrs X’s complaint:
• Apologise to Mrs X and Y for the delay in the EHC Plan process;
• Pay Mrs X £100 for each four weeks of delay. As the Council has agreed to issue Y an EHC Plan and is in the process of doing so, the delay should be calculated from 8 September 2023 until the date the final Plan is issued. The Council should make this payment within four weeks of sending Mrs X the final EHC Plan.
11. 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 Mrs X or Y.

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Final decision

12. 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