Summary: Ms X complained about the Councils actions in relation to her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). The Council was at fault. It failed to issue a final amended EHC Plan following a previous annual review meeting. It then delayed the latest annual review meeting and delayed issuing a final amended EHC Plan. The Council also communicated poorly with Ms X. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her £300 to acknowledge the distress and frustration this caused her.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She said the Council:

1. did not issue a final amended EHC Plan following an annual review meeting in February 2023;
2. did not respond to her request for an emergency review meeting between October and November 2023;
3. delayed holding an annual review meeting in early 2024; and
4. delayed issuing a final amended EHC Plan following the annual review meeting which took place in March 2024.

2. Ms X said this caused her distress and frustration and left her child without appropriate support to meet their needs. Ms X wants the Council to recognise its faults and apologise to her. She also wants the Council to put measures in place to prevent a recurrence of fault.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) Section ‘a’ of Ms X’s complaint happened more than 12 months ago. However, I have decided to investigate this part of Ms X’s complaint as Ms X said she did not become aware of the Council not issuing a final amended EHC Plan until September-October 2023.
5. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
7. 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

8. I spoke with Ms X and considered the information she provided.
9. I considered the information the Council provided.
10. Ms X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Education, Health and Care Plans

11. Some children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities will have an EHC Plan. The EHC Plan identifies a child’s education, health and social needs and sets out the extra support needed to meet those needs.

Annual reviews

12. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. The council must complete the review within 12 months of the first EHC Plan and within 12 months of any later reviews. A review meeting must take place.
13. After the review meeting, the council must make one of the following three decisions: to keep the EHC Plan as it is, to amend it or to cease it. All three decisions carry a right of appeal, but the appeal right for when an EHC Plan is amended, only arises once the amended final EHC Plan is issued. 
14. Where the council has decided to amend the EHC Plan, the law states the council must notify the parent of its decision to amend it and what the proposed changes are within four weeks of the annual review meeting. The council must then issue the final amended EHC Plan within eight weeks of this amendment notice. Therefore, the council must issue a final amended EHC Plan within 12 weeks of the annual review meeting.

Early reviews

15. A review can take place earlier than 12 months if it is required. Parents can ask the council to complete an early review at any time in cases where they believe their child’s education, health or social needs have changed and/or provision in the EHC Plan is no longer meeting their needs.

What happened

16. Ms X’s child, Y, has special educational needs and an EHC Plan to support their needs at a college whilst completing a course.
17. At the beginning of February 2023, the Council completed an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan. Towards the end of May 2023, the Council issued a draft amended EHC Plan. The Council did not issue a final amended EHC Plan and Ms X said she only became aware of this when she contacted the Council between September and October 2023. Y continued to attend their course at college.
18. In mid-October 2023, Ms X contacted the Council and the College and said Y’s GP had recently diagnosed Y with a new health condition which was negatively affecting Y’s attendance at the college. Ms X said the GP had referred Y to a specialist clinic to help manage their symptoms however, she wanted the new health condition to be included in the EHC Plan to ensure Y had the right support at college.
19. The Council asked Ms X for a supporting letter from the GP which confirmed Y’s new health diagnosis. Ms X gave the Council a letter from the GP which detailed Y’s symptoms. The Council offered Ms X dates for an early review meeting.
20. Later in October 2023, the College responded to Ms X’s request for an early review and said it did not believe an early review was required as there was already appropriate support available for Y at the college. It said due to it being a physical health matter, it would be the responsibility of the specialist clinic to work with Y and support them as necessary. The College added it would make some changes to Y’s timetable to support their attendance.
21. Ms X responded to the College and accepted its decision it was not necessary to complete an early review.
22. In mid-November 2023, Ms X contacted the Council and said Y was still struggling with attending college. Ms X said she was concerned Y may lose their place on the course due to the lack of attendance. She was also concerned about Y’s mental health. Ms X asked the Council if it could arrange a meeting with her to discuss Y’s options. The Council did not respond to Ms X’s request for a meeting.
23. Towards the end of January 2024, Ms X contacted the Council and repeated Y was struggling with attending college. She also said she was unhappy the Council had not contacted her in relation to an annual review meeting of the EHC Plan which was due soon. The Council responded to Ms X and between January and February 2024, it liaised with Ms X to arrange an annual review meeting.
24. In mid-March 2024, an annual review meeting took place. Following this, the Council issued a draft amended EHC Plan to Ms X towards the end of April 2024 and then a final amended EHC Plan at the end of July 2024.

Ms X’s complaint to the Council

25. In April 2024, Ms X complained to the Council and said:
• Y’s case worker had changed several times and the Council had not told Ms X prior to them changing. Ms X said this had contributed towards the delay in the annual review meeting taking place; and
• since the annual review meeting, the Council had not communicated with her.
26. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint and said:
• since Ms X’s complaint, it had issued a draft amended EHC Plan;
• it recognised Ms X had experienced delays due to case workers leaving and apologised to Ms X for the delay in responding to Y’s draft amended EHC Plan; and
• its capacity within the Family Service Team had been under pressure due to staff absences and staff vacancies. It said it was implementing a range of actions to improve the service and provided Ms X with the relevant supporting information.
27. Ms X remained unhappy and complained to us.

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Findings

28. When the Council carried out an annual review meeting in February 2023, it should have issued a final amended EHC Plan within 12 weeks of the meeting. The Council did not issue a final amended EHC Plan at all. This was fault and not in line with legislation.
29. In October 2023, Ms X informed the Council Y had a new health diagnosis and so requested an early review for it to be included in the EHC Plan. The Council responded to Ms X’s request and agreed to arranging an early review. However, the College believed an early review was not required. Records show Ms X accepted the College's decision. Therefore, the Council was not at fault.
30. In November 2023, Ms X contacted the Council again and made it aware Y was struggling with attending college. Ms X did not specify she wanted an early review in her communication. However, the Council did not respond to Ms X until she contacted the Council again in January 2024. This was fault. The Council should have responded to Ms X sooner.
31. The annual review of Y’s EHC Plan was due in February 2024. Records show the Council began arranging the annual review meeting towards the end of January 2024 when Ms X contacted the Council again. The meeting did not take place until mid-March 2024. Legislation states councils must complete an annual review of an EHC Plan within 12 months of the previous annual review. The Council was at fault. It delayed carrying out an annual review by approximately over a month.
32. Following the annual review meeting, the Council should have issued a final amended EHC Plan within 12 weeks of the meeting. Instead, the Council issued a final EHC Plan almost 20 weeks after the annual review meeting. The Council was at fault. It delayed issuing a final EHC Plan by approximately eight weeks.

Injustice

33. The Council’s faults outlined above caused Ms X distress and frustration. In addition, the Council delayed Ms X’s right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal when it delayed issuing a final amended EHC Plan following the annual review meeting in mid-March 2024.
34. However, I cannot say the Council’s faults caused Y to lose any provision as Y was still receiving appropriate support from the college during this period.
35. The Council told Ms X in its complaint response that it was currently working on a range of actions to improve its services. In January 2024, the Council had put together an action plan following an inspection from Ofsted. I will therefore not be recommending any service improvements as the Council is already taking action to address the delays. We will continue to monitor this through our case work.

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Agreed action

36. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her £300 to acknowledge the distress and frustration it caused her when it:
• did not issue a final amended EHC Plan in 2023;
• delayed responding to her in November 2023 in relation to meeting with the Council;
• delayed the annual review meeting in early 2024; and
• delayed issuing a final amended EHC Plan following the annual review meeting in March 2024.
37. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

38. I have now completed my investigation. The Council was at fault. It has agreed to action the recommendations to remedy the personal injustice caused to Ms X.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman