Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Education, Health and Care Plan process for the complainant’s child. The Council has offered a suitable remedy and an investigation would not achieve anything more. We will not look at the Council’s complaint handling as a standalone issue.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complained about delay in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) process for her daughter. Mrs X says the Council refused to escalate her complaint to stage 2 of its process and therefore blocked access to the Ombudsman.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X asked the Council to assess her daughter for an EHC Plan. If a council decides not to issue an EHC Plan, it should decide this by week 16 of the process. If a council decides to issue an EHC Plan, it should do so by week 20 of the process.
6. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint on 19 June at stage 1 of its process. It accepted delay and referred to a shortage of Educational Psychologists (EPs). It said once the process was complete it would offer £100 for each month of delay outside the 20 weeks. The Council said this approach was in line with the Ombudsman’s recommended approach.
7. The Council said it could not escalate Mrs X’s complaint to the second stage of its process. This was because the second stage required a response and resolution which could be reviewed. The resolution Mrs X wanted was the EHC Plan process completing. That was still ongoing.
8. On 01 July, Mrs X questioned the Council’s position and said it was denying her the right to complain to the Ombudsman. The Council responded the following day and said she could complain to us.
9. We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint.
10. There is a national shortage of EPs and it is affecting councils throughout the country. The Council has accepted it has taken longer than it should to complete the process due to this shortage. This is service failure. This has caused Mrs X frustration and distress.
11. The Council has previously assured the Ombudsman of the actions it is taking to address delays in the EHC Plan process. We are therefore satisfied the Council has a plan to address this issue.
12. In cases like this we consider a payment of £100 to be a suitable remedy for each month of delay. The Council has offered a remedy in line with this and so we will not investigate. An investigation would not be a good use of our resources as it would not achieve anything more.
13. Mrs X is also unhappy with how the Council dealt with her complaint. We will not normally look at complaint handling as a standalone issue if we are not going to look at the original issue which led to the complaint. This applies here. But even if we did investigate, it is unlikely we would find fault causing a significant personal injustice. The Council explained its position in its first response. When Mrs X said she was unhappy, the Council directed her to the Ombudsman the following day. An investigation is not therefore appropriate.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has offered a suitable remedy and we will not look at complaint handling as a standalone issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman