Summary: Mrs X complained about delays by the Council during her son’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment. She said the delay left him without the support he needed, and he was unable to attend school. We have found the Council at fault for not completing the assessment within the legal timescales, which caused Mrs X uncertainty and frustration. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise Mrs X’s distress.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about delay by the Council undertaking an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her son, Y.
2. Mrs X said Y’s mainstream school was unable to meet his needs and he can no longer go to school. She said he needed a special school, but she cannot begin to look for a special school until the Council has issued an EHC Plan

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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(1), 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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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated the period between Mrs X requesting an EHC needs assessment (March 2024) and when she brought her complain to us (October 2024).
7. I have not investigated Mrs X’s concerns that Y needs specialist school provision. Matters about the content of an EHC Plan are appealable to the SEND Tribunal.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Law and guidance

10. A child or young person with Special Educational Needs (SEN) may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This document sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections.
11. Statutory guidance ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ (‘the Code’) sets out the process for carrying out EHC assessments and producing EHC Plans. The guidance is based on the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEN Regulations 2014. It says the following:
• Where the council receives a request for an EHC needs assessment it must decide whether to agree to the assessment and send its decision to the parent of the child or the young person within six weeks.
• If the council goes on to carry out an assessment, it must decide whether to issue an EHC Plan or refuse to issue a Plan within 16 weeks.
• If the council goes on to issue an EHC Plan, the whole process from the point when an assessment is requested until the final EHC Plan is issued must take no more than 20 weeks (unless certain specific circumstances apply).
12. As part of the assessment, councils must gather advice from relevant professionals (SEND Regulation 6(1)). This includes psychological advice and information from an Educational Psychologist (EP).

What happened

13. In March 2024, Mrs X asked the Council to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) for her son, Y. The Council agreed to assess Y.
14. In August, Mrs X complained to the Council that it had not completed her son’s assessment. The Council apologised for the delay and explained it was waiting for an educational psychologist’s input. The Council told Mrs X that it had provided advice to Y’s school and funding for SEN provision, including one-to-one support.
15. By October, Y was struggling at school and Mrs X decided to withdraw him until he has an EHC Plan in place.
16. The Council informed Mrs X that it hoped to have completed an educational psychology assessment by February 2025. The Council met with Y’s school to discuss supporting Y’s return to school.
17. Mrs X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman.
18. The Council issued Y’s final EHC Plan in April 2025.

My findings

19. The Council failed to meet the statutory deadline for Y’s EHC needs assessment and Plan process.
20. Mrs X asked the Council to carry out an EHC needs assessment in March 2024. As explained in paragraph 10, the Council should have issued the final EHC Plan within 20 weeks of this date. This means it should have issued it by early August 2024.
21. The Council issued Y’s EHC Plan in April 2025. This was 8 months of delay.
22. In response to our enquiries, the Council offered to make a payment of £800 to Mrs X in recognition of the delay. This is in line with our Guidance on Remedies, which suggests £100 per month of delay as a result of the shortage of educational psychologists.

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Agreed action

23. Within 4 weeks of my decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mrs X for the delay in completing her son’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment.
2. Pay Mrs X £800 in recognition of the delayed Education, Health and Care needs assessment process.
24. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

25. I have found fault causing an injustice. The Council agreed to take action to remedy this injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman