Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to secure Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan provision after they moved into its area or complete a review of the plan within statutory time limits. We find the Council at fault, causing frustration and uncertainty and meaning Y did not receive the education he was entitled to. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the injustice, and act to prevent recurrence.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council’s failure to arrange the provision set out in her son, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan when they moved into its area in June 2023. As a consequence, Y only had reduced provision for a full academic year and missed out on socialising opportunities. Miss X also says the Council failed to complete an EHC Plan review in line with statutory guidance which frustrated her rights of appeal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
5. 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)
6. 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

7. We cannot usually investigate complaints about events that took place more than 12 months before they were raised with the Ombudsman. We can only exercise discretion to look back further if there are good reasons to do so.
8. Mrs X first contacted the Ombudsman in January 2025, meaning anything that took place before January 2024 would be considered a late complaint. However, I have exercised discretion to look back as far as the start point of Mrs X’s complaint in June 2023. This is because Mrs X was in constant contact with the Council and does not appear to have been responsible for delays.
9. We also cannot usually investigate complaints unless we are satisfied the Council has had a chance to look into them first. This includes events that are linked to or ongoing from the complaint that has been brought to us.
10. I am aware Mrs X has experienced ongoing issues with the Council since it responded to her complaint in January 2025. However, if Mrs X wants us to consider a complaint about anything that has happened since then, she would first need to give the Council an opportunity to respond.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance. I also considered the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies.
12. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and policy

13. A young person with special educational needs (SEN) may have an EHC Plan. This sets out the young person’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them.
14. Where a child or young person moves to another council, the ‘old’ council must transfer the EHC Plan to the ‘new’ council. The new council must make sure the provision in the EHC Plan begins on the day of the move or within 15 working days of becoming aware of the move if this is later. The new council must review the EHC Plan either within 12 months of it last being reviewed or three months of the date of the transfer, whichever is the later date. (Section 15 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Regulations 2014)  
15. The new council may, on transfer of the EHC Plan, bring forward the arrangements for the review of the plan. The new council must tell the child’s parent, within six weeks of the date of the transfer, when they will review the plan.

What happened

16. I have summarised below some key events leading to Mrs X’s complaint. While I have considered everything submitted, this is not intended to be a detailed account of what took place.
17. Y has SEN and his education is supported by an EHC Plan.
18. The Council was notified Y had moved into its area on 3 June 2023, meaning it became responsible for securing his EHC Plan provision from 24 June 2023. At this point, Y’s EHC Plan named a mainstream school and provided for:
• Small group therapeutic interventions 30 minutes weekly;
• Small group social skills interventions twice weekly for 30 minutes;
• A key worker to explore problematic social situations weekly for one hour;
• 1:1 literacy groups for five hours weekly;
• 1:1 and small group interventions to support concentration skills for 15 minutes daily;
• Daily reading comprehension sessions;
• A differentiated timetable and curriculum.
19. The Council had not arranged provision for Y by the end of the academic year 2022/23. The Council did not carry out a full review of Y’s EHC Plan but issued a new draft plan on 6 July 2023. This mirrored the provision from his existing plan but did not name an educational setting or type.
20. The Council then agreed for a tuition service to provide Y with 10 hours of 1:1 home tuition per week from the start of the 2023/24 academic year.
21. Between September 2023 and March 2024, the Council consulted with 17 school settings for Y, but could not find a setting that could accept him and was suitable to meet his SEN needs.
22. In March 2024 the Council reviewed Y’s case and decided his EHC Plan provision could still be met at a mainstream school setting. It also agreed additional alternative provision while Y was out of school but, due to a waiting list with the supplier, this did not begin.
23. On 29 May 2024 the Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y. This mirrored the provision set out in his draft plan, but named School A, a mainstream school, from September 2024.
24. The 10 hours of tuition Y received each week ended at the end of the academic year 2023/24 as a school place had been agreed for him from September 2024. At this point Y began a transition plan with School A with meant he attended for 30-60 minutes up to twice a week, after the school day had finished.
25. The first annual review of Y’s EHC Plan since he moved into the Council’s area took place on 25 October 2024.

Analysis

26. The Council had a duty to secure Y’s EHC Plan provision from 24 June 2023. That it did not do so is fault and meant Y did not receive the education he was entitled to, which is injustice.
27. The Council consulted with 17 schools, both mainstream and specialist, during the timeline I have investigated but could not find a place for Y. While it is clear the Council acted to try and secure provision for Y, that it did not do so is still fault and meant Y did not receive the provision he was entitled to, which is injustice.
28. Y received no provision at all for the final month of the academic year 2022/23. This is fault and meant Y was not receiving the education or socialising opportunities he was entitled to, which is injustice. The Council then arranged 1:1 tutoring sessions for Y to mitigate the injustice from September 2023, but this did not cover all the provision he was entitled to and did not include socialising opportunities. This means the injustice to Y, while reduced, continued across the entirety of the academic year 2023/24.
29. From September 2024 School A was named in Y’s EHC Plan and the Council ceased the tuition he was receiving. However, Y was only attending School A for up to two hours per week across the first term of the 2023/24 academic year as part of his transition, and this did not include the provision set out in his EHC Plan and took place outside of school hours, meaning he also still was not getting the social opportunities he was entitled to. This is fault and meant the injustice continued across another school term, in a year where Y should have been preparing for his transition to secondary school.
30. The EHC Plan the Council adopted from Y’s previous council was dated December 2022. The Council was under a duty to complete the annual review of this by December 2023. However, the Council did not begin an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan until October 2024, approximately 10 months later. This is fault and would have caused further uncertainty for Mrs X, as well as frustrating her appeal rights, which is injustice.

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Action

31. To remedy the injustice identified above, the Council should complete the following actions within one month of the date of this decision:
• Write to Mrs X to apologise for the injustice caused by the failure to secure Y’s EHC Plan provision following his move into its area and for the delay in reviewing his EHC Plan. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Mrs X £2,800 to be used towards Y’s education in recognition of the failure to secure full EHC Plan provision for him between June 2023 and the end of the academic year 2023/24. This covers just over three terms of missed EHC Plan provision and accounts for the tuition that was in place to mitigate this.
• Pay Mrs X £1,200 to be used towards Y’s education in recognition of the failure to ensure he received the correct EHC Plan provision across the first school term of the 2024/25 academic year.
• Pay Mrs X £500 in recognition of the frustration and uncertainty caused by the delays in completing Y’s EHC Plan annual review.
• Remind staff in its SEND team of the need to follow the SEND Regulations where a child with an EHC Plan moves into the Council’s area and the importance of ensuring EHC Plan provision is in place and annual reviews are completed by the relevant deadlines.
32. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

33. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman