Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to her child, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The Council was at fault. It delayed issuing a draft amended and final amended EHC Plan following an annual review meeting. As a result, Y missed out on some specialist educational provision. It also caused Miss X frustration and uncertainty. The Council has already apologised to Miss X. The Council will also pay Miss X a symbolic payment of £250 to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to her child, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She said following an annual review meeting in June 2024, the Council:
• delayed issuing a draft amended EHC Plan; and
• delayed issuing a final amended EHC Plan.
2. Miss X said as a result, Y did not receive specialist provision for a period of time. It also caused Miss X frustration. Miss X wants the Council to provide Y additional sessions of provision they missed out on due to the delay. She also wants the Council to implement service improvements 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. 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)
5. 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

6. I spoke with Miss X and considered information she provided.
7. I considered information provided by the Council.
8. Miss 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 (EHC) Plans

9. 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 of EHC Plans

10. The council must arrange for an 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. The annual review begins with consulting the child’s parents or the young person and the educational placement. A review meeting must then take place. The process is only complete when the council issues its decision to amend, maintain or discontinue the EHC Plan. This must happen within four weeks of the meeting.
11. 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.
12. 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.

What happened

13. Miss X’s child, Y, has special educational needs and an EHC Plan.
14. Miss X said in mid-June 2024, an annual review meeting took place of Y’s EHC Plan with professionals involved with Y’s education. Miss X said amendments to Y’s EHC Plan were discussed during the meeting.
15. At the beginning of July 2024, Miss X complained to the Council as it had not sent her notification of proposed amendments since the annual review meeting.
16. In mid-July 2024, the Council sent Miss X a notification of proposed amendments however, it did not send her a draft amended EHC Plan.
17. Towards the end of July 2024, the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint and apologised for the delay in issuing the notification of proposed amendments.
18. In early August 2024, Miss X contacted the Council and said she had received the notification of proposed amendments however, the Council had not sent her a draft amended EHC Plan. She asked the Council to send her the draft amended EHC Plan by the end of the week.
19. In early September 2024, Miss X contacted the Council again as it had still not sent her the draft amended EHC Plan. She asked the Council to investigate her complaint further about the delay.
20. In mid-September 2024, the Council responded to Miss X and:
• apologised for the delay in issuing a draft amended EHC Plan;
• told Miss X it was aware of the delay in EHC Plan assessment and reviews as a wider issue and explained it was changing its way of working so it could reduce the delays;
• told Miss X it would not investigate her complaint further as it could not add anything more to its investigation; and
• said it had contacted the relevant team and asked it to liaise with Miss X in relation to the lack of a draft amended EHC Plan.
21. At the beginning of October 2024, the Council said it emailed Miss X the draft amended EHC Plan. Miss X told us she did not receive it.
22. Miss X complained to us in mid-October 2024.
23. Miss X said the Council sent her an email with the draft amended EHC Plan in mid-November 2024. Towards the end of December 2024, the Council issued Miss X the final amended EHC Plan. The EHC Plan said Y would receive one session a week of physical therapy such as swimming, horse riding or trampolining to support their body awareness. Miss X said between September and December 2024, Y did not receive these sessions.

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Findings

24. The Council carried out an annual review meeting of Y’s EHC Plan in mid-June 2024. In line with statutory timescales, the Council should have issued a draft amended EHC Plan by mid-July 2024. Although the Council sent Miss X a notification that it would amend the EHC Plan slightly over the statutory timescales, it did not send a draft amended EHC Plan with it. The Council was at fault. This caused Miss X frustration. It also caused Miss X uncertainty as the Council did not make her aware what parts of the EHC Plan it would amend.
25. In line with statutory timescales, the Council should have issued a final amended EHC Plan by mid-September 2024. The Council issued the final amended EHC Plan towards the end of December 2024. This was fault. It delayed issuing a final amended EHC Plan by approximately three months. This caused Miss X further frustration. In addition, Y also missed out on some specialist provision.
26. The Council has already apologised to Miss X for the delay which was appropriate however, I have made recommendations to further remedy the injustice caused.

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Agreed Action

27. Within one month of the final decision, the Council has agreed it will pay Miss X a symbolic payment of £250. This is for the frustration and uncertainty caused to Miss X and for some of the provision Y missed due to the delay.
28. Within three months of the final decision, the Council will provide us with an action plan which should detail what action it is or has been taking to reduce the delays of issuing draft and final amended EHC Plans following annual review meetings.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final Decision

30. I have now completed my investigation. The Council was at fault. It has agreed to the recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman