Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delay in the Education, Health and Care Plan review process. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to achieve a different remedy to the one already offered. We will not investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, complained the Council took too long to issue draft and final versions of her daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Miss X says this caused anxiety and uncertainty. Miss X is also unhappy with the Council’s handling of her complaint and its explanation for the delay.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. A Council has four weeks from an EHC Plan review meeting to issue a notice saying whether it intends to amend an EHC Plan. If the decision is to amend the EHC Plan, the Council should send a draft version. The Council then has eight weeks to issue a final amended EHC Plan. The process should therefore take a maximum of 12 weeks.
7. Miss X’s daughter has an EHC Plan. The Council reviewed this on 04 March 2024. The Council was late in the sending the draft EHC Plan by just over a week. The entire process should have been completed by 27 May 2024. The Council issued the final EHC Plan on 11 July 2024 – just over six weeks late.
8. In its response to Miss X’s complaint the Council acknowledged the stress and inconvenience caused. It offered a payment of £200.
9. While I recognise Miss X’s frustrations, we will not investigate her complaint. The remedy offered by the Council is in line with what we would offer given the injustice caused by the delay. An investigation is not justified as it would not achieve anything more.
10. Miss X is unhappy with how long the Council took to respond to her complaint and its explanation for the delay. But we will not normally investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue if we are not going to look at the issue which led to the original complaint. This applies here, and as the remedy offered is appropriate, consideration of the Council’s complaint handling would not be a good use of our resources.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would not achieve a different remedy. We will not look at complaint handling as a standalone issue.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman