Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about delays in producing an Education Health and Care Plan. We have upheld the complaint, and the Council has agreed to a proportionate way to resolve the complaint.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council delayed in issuing an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) for B. She says the EHC Plan does not meet B’s needs and the Council failed to provide support B needed before it issued the EHC Plan.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. 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.
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), 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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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X says she requested an EHC Plan assessment in October 2024 for B. The Council produced a final EHC Plan in October 2025. The EHC Plan Regulations say one should be produced within 20 weeks. Here the Council delayed by six months. She says this means B’s support was delayed and they missed out on the support they needed during the delay.
9. Miss X says the EHC Plan does not meet B’s needs.

Analysis

10. We will not investigate whether the EHC Plan meets B’s needs as it is reasonable to expect Miss X to have appealed to the Tribunal. This means we also will not investigate:
• the quality of the assessments used to form that EHC Plan;
• whether the assessment process used was the correct one to assess B’s needs;
• whether the support provided since the EHC Plan issued is suitable or adequate for B.
11. B was not of compulsory school age during the delay period. The Council had no duty to provide B with an education during that time.

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Agreed action

12. The Council has previously set out to us its action plan to deal with the problems it has with appointing educational psychologists and EHC Plan delays.
13. The Council has agreed to:
• Pay Miss X £600 to recognise the uncertainty, avoidable distress and frustration caused by the delay.

14. This is a suitable remedy for the frustration and uncertainty caused by the delay.
15. When the Council delays in gaining assessments as part of the needs assessment, we assume the final EHC Plan reflects the child’s needs as they are when it is issued and not six plus months previously. We cannot guess what the provision would have been had the EHC Plan been issued within timescales. If B has been disadvantaged by any delay in producing the EHC plan we expect the provision in the EHC Plan to reflect their needs at that stage (so it will take account of any impact in delay in SEN provision). We cannot say an EHC Plan needs assessment would have reached the same conclusions weeks or months earlier. The assessment process takes account of the latest evidence on the child’s present circumstances, rather than looking at the child’s situation at the point when the EHC Plan should have originally been provided.

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Final decision

16. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman