Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to issue her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan within statutory timescales after deciding Y needed a Plan in May 2024. She also said the Council delayed issuing a response to her complaint. The Council was at fault because it issued Y’s final EHC Plan 36 weeks outside of statutory timescales. It was also at fault for not issuing its complaint responses within timescales. The Council has agreed to make a payment of £2300 to recognise Y’s loss of provision and the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council delayed issuing her child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan after deciding Y required one. She also said the Council delayed issuing a response to her complaint.
2. Mrs X said this has caused her distress, frustration, and uncertainty about the provision her child would receive.

Back to top

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. 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).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

What I found

Relevant Law and Guidance

9. A child or young person with special educational needs 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. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the SEND Tribunal or the council can do this.
10. 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 Code is based on the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Regulations 2014. It says:
• where a council receives a request for an EHC needs assessment it must give its decision within six weeks whether to agree to the assessment;

• the process of assessing a child’s needs and developing EHC Plans “must be carried out in a timely manner”. Steps must be completed as soon as practicable; and
• 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.

11. If the First-tier Tribunal makes an order requiring a local authority to make and maintain an EHC Plan, the local authority shall issue an EHC Plan within 5 weeks of the order being made.

The Council’s Complaints Procedure

12. The Council says where a complaint is not resolved at the time or within three working days of receipt, an acknowledgment will be sent including the expected date for the response. A full response to the complaint should be made at the earliest possible time and in general this should not exceed the standard target of 28 calendar days.

What happened

13. Mrs X has a child, Y, who has special educational needs. At the time of the concerns, Y was in their last year of primary school. Mrs X had requested an EHC needs assessment which the Council carried out and in January 2024 it decided not to issue Y with an EHC Plan.
14. In April 2024, Mrs X appealed against the Council’s decision to not issue an EHC Plan. In May 2024, the Council conceded the appeal. Two days later it issued a draft EHC Plan and it should have gone on to issue Y’s final EHC Plan in late June 2024.
15. In August 2024, Mrs X complained the Council had failed to issue Y’s final EHC Plan within the timescales. Mrs X told the Council that as a result, Y would be transitioning to high school without the appropriate provision in place.
16. In October 2024, the Council issued a stage one complaint response upholding her complaint. It said it had now prioritised Y’s case and was considering Mrs X’s representations to the draft decision and the additional professional reports she had submitted. It advised it would be issuing the final EHC Plan as soon as possible.
17. Mrs X escalated her complaint to stage two in the same month. In January 2025, the Council issued a stage two complaint response. It said the statutory deadline to issue Y’s final plan was 26 June 2024. The Council said it was aware it had not yet finalised the EHC Plan, and was significantly out of timescale. It apologised for any undue stress and upset caused by the delay.
18. Mrs X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s handling of the matter and complained to the Ombudsman.
19. In March 2025, the Council issued Y with a final EHC Plan. The provision in Section F of the EHCP that Y was entitled to, included but was not limited to the following:
• Weekly 1:1 sessions for 30 minutes with a trusted adult focusing on developing Y’s understanding of various social situations
• Daily 1:1 sessions for 30 minutes with a trusted adult to reflect upon Y’s emotions
• Pre-teaching of new skills or concepts carried out either 1:1 or within a small group
• 1:1 support and intervention from a teaching assistant for at least 10 hours per week to support with attention, peer interaction, school work and anxiety
• An emotional literacy and emotional regulation curriculum
• A key worker who will provide a contact point for parents and outside agencies
• A modified sensory environment which accommodates any sensory processing needs
• A range of equipment to support sensory processing needs and to identify what Y finds helpful and responds well to, which would be overseen and advised on by a qualified Occupational Therapist.

My findings

EHC Plan

20. Following the Council conceding the appeal and deciding to issue an EHC Plan, it had to follow the statutory timescales set out in the law and the code. Therefore, the Council should have issued the final Plan by end of June 2024. The Council did not issue the final Plan until start of March 2025 which was 36 weeks outside of timescales. This equates to 25 weeks of lost provision Y did not have the opportunity to receive. This fault caused Mrs X and Y distress, frustration and uncertainty about the provision Y would receive. It also delayed Mrs X’s appeal rights.
21. We have found similar fault with the Council on a separate case. Following that case, the Council agreed to create an action plan to demonstrate the steps it has taken to improve its Special Educational Needs and Disability service. It has also agreed to monitor the impact of the action plan on its Special Educational Needs and Disability service. Therefore, a further service improvement is not required.

Complaint handling

22. Mrs X made a stage two complaint at the end of October 2024. The Council should have issued a stage two response within 28 days as outlined in its complaints procedure. The end of November 2024 is the latest the Council should have issued a response by. However, the Council failed to issue a complaint response until end of January 2025. This was a 10 week delay and was fault. This caused Mrs X distress, frustration and uncertainty.

Back to top

Action

23. Within one month of the date of the final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Apologise to Mrs X to acknowledge the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by its delayed complaint response.
2. Pay Mrs X £200 to acknowledge the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused to her by the Council’s delay in issuing Y with an EHC Plan.
3. Pay Mrs X £2,100 to recognise Y’s loss of provision that they should have received between June 2024 and March 2025 but did not due to the Council’s delay in issuing the final Plan.
4. Remind relevant officers to issue complaint responses within the timescales set out in the Council’s complaints policy.
24. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

25. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to my actions to remedy the injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman