Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed completing an Education Health and Care needs assessment. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by offering to make a suitable payment to the complainant to remedy the injustice this cause.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains that the Council has delayed completing an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her child. Miss X says this has meant her child has not received the appropriate education provision, has caused Miss X distress and affected her ability to work.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended.
3. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely that we would find fault. This is because the Council delayed completing an EHC needs assessment by approximately six months, which has caused Miss X distress in the form of frustration and uncertainty.
7. The Council has said that the delays are caused by a national shortage of educational psychologists. We have previously found that the Council has made service improvements to respond to the increased demand for EHC needs assessments and to manage the shortage of Educational Psychologists. I am satisfied with these service improvements and so have therefore not recommended anything further here. 
8. We do not normally recommend remedies that reimburse loss of earnings. This is because we cannot usually, on balance, establish a clear and causal link between the fault and the claimed injustice of lost earnings. We also cannot remedy the impact of delays issuing the EHC plan on Miss X’s child’s education and Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision, because we cannot say with certainty that provision in EHC plan would have been same if the plan had been issued sooner.
9. However, I do consider that the delays caused Miss X an injustice in the form of distress and therefore I recommended the Council provide a remedy for this injustice.
10. To its credit, the Council agreed to my recommendation. Therefore, within one month of the date of this final decision, it will write to Miss X to apologise for the delay and offer to make a payment to her of £600 to remedy the distress this has caused her.

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Final decision

11. We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing the complainant with a suitable remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman