Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council delayed amending and issuing the complainant’s son’s Education Health and Care plan. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council delayed amending and issuing her son’s Education Health and Care (EHC) plan.

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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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s son has special educational needs and an EHC plan. Mrs X complains that the Council delayed amending and issuing his EHC plan. The evidence shows that Mrs X complained to the Council in October 2024, stating that she had been pursuing the matter without success since April 2024.
6. In response, the Council set out that it had issued a final EHCP in June 2024 following an annual review in March 2024. It acknowledged that this process took three weeks longer than allowed for in the statutory timescale and apologised for this. It carried out another annual review in October 2024 and issued a further final EHC plan in December 2024.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part. The Council has shown that it has issued two final EHC plans since Mrs X raised the matter in April 2024. Although the first was delayed, that delay is not so significant as to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman