Summary: We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in completing her child’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council failed to name a school on the Education, Health and Care plan. These decisions carry a right of appeal which it would be reasonable for Mrs X to use.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council delayed issuing her child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment. She also says that when it was produced, the Council also failed to name a school on the plan which caused a further 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’. 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)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about this matter. We may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right but cannot investigate if they have already used it. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions about special educational needs. We refer to it as the SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
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 considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an EHC Plan. This 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 council can do this.
9. The Council did not name a school on the EHC plan. It is reasonable for Mrs X to use her right to appeal this decision if she disagrees which I note that she did. We cannot consider the delay caused by not naming a school, as any lack of provision would be considered by the SEND Tribunal.
10. If we investigated the complaint into the delayed EHC plan, it is likely that we would find the Council at fault. The Council agreed to complete an EHC needs assessment but accepts it has not completed this within the statutory timescales. The Council say the delay was due in part to the national shortage of Educational Psychologists.
11. The Council should have issued a decision on whether an EHC plan was needed in July 2023 but was not produced until March 2024. There was a delay of seven months. This would have caused Mrs X distress in the form of uncertainty.
12. The Council has already agreed to undertake work on improving the EHC plan process including the recruitment of Educational Psychologist, after the Ombudsman upheld other cases. We are therefore satisfied that the Council is taking steps to resolve this issue.
13. We therefore invited the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Mrs X by taking the following actions within one month of the date of this decision:

• Provide Mrs X with an apology

• Pay Mrs X £700 for the distress caused due to the delay in issuing a decision on whether an EHC plan is needed.

14. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within one month of our final decision.

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Final decision

15. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman