Summary: The Council was at fault for not issuing an updated Education, Health and Care Plan following an annual review. This meant Ms X’s child did not receive the most up to date support. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and make a payment to her.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council did not issue an updated Education, Health and Care Plan after an annual review in 2024. Ms X said her child has not received the most up to date support they should have and the impact on chasing this up with the Council has been extremely stressful.

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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. 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(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

5. I have investigated matters from the annual review in April 2024 until the Council issued a final Education, Health and Care Plan in 2025.
6. I have not investigated matters before April 2024 and any complaints Ms X had about the Council not updating her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan in previous years. Ms X could have complained to us at the time about these concerns and I can see no good reasons why she did not.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.
9. 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 found

Law and guidance

10. 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 Tribunal or the council can do this. 
11. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. The council must complete the review within 12 months of the first EHC Plan and within 12 months of any later reviews. The annual review begins with consulting the child’s parents or the young person and the educational placement. A review meeting must then take place. The process is only complete when the council issues its decision to amend, maintain or discontinue the EHC Plan. This must happen within four weeks of the meeting. (Section 20(10) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.176)
12. Where the council proposes to amend an EHC Plan, the law says it must send the child’s parent or the young person a copy of the existing (non-amended) Plan and an accompanying notice providing details of the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence to support the proposed changes. (Section 22(2) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.194). Case law sets out this should happen within four weeks of the date of the review meeting. Case law also found councils must issue the final amended EHC Plan within a further eight weeks.

What happened

13. Ms X’s child, Y, has special educational needs.
14. On 18 April 2024, an annual review meeting for Y’s EHC Plan took place. The Council agreed to make amendments to Y’s EHC Plan. Following the annual review meeting the Council sent Ms X the amendments it proposed to make to Y’s EHC Plan. Ms X sent the Council her comments on the amendments on 9 July 2024.
15. In mid-February 2025, Ms X complained to the Council about the delays completing Y's annual review. Ms X also said the Council had not responded to her communication and had not issued a final EHC Plan.
16. On 3 March 2025, the Council held an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan.
17. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint in early March 2025. The Council apologised for the delay amending Y’s EHC Plan and said this was due to some confusion about what team was responsible for Y. The Council said it had made the amendments and would finalise Y’s EHC Plan.
18. Ms X asked the Council to consider her complaint further as it had not recognised it failed to provide an amended EHC Plan within the legal timeframe and had just held another annual review without an updated EHC Plan.
19. In April 2025, the Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y.

Analysis

20. The annual review meeting for Y’s EHC Plan took place on 18 April 2024. As the Council decided to amend Y’s EHC Plan, it should have issued a final amended EHC Plan within 12 weeks, so by 11 July 2024. Failure to do so was fault.
21. The Council did not issue a final amended EHC Plan for Y following the 2024 annual review. The Council had Ms X’s comments on the amendments in July 2024 and had received input from other professionals involved with Y however it did not go onto finalise the EHC Plan. It was only after holding a further annual review in 2025, the Council issued a final EHC Plan in April 2025 with the amendments.
22. Having considered the annual review notes and the differences in the EHC Plans in place in April 2024 and the new EHC Plan issued in April 2025, I am satisfied on balance Y has missed out on some special educational provision. This includes some extra Speech and Language Therapy and some provision around cognition, learning, social and emotional skills. This is an injustice to Y.
23. Ms X has also spent a significant amount of time pursuing the Council to try to finalise Y’s EHC Plan and make sure the amendments were made properly. The time Y was without a final EHC Plan has caused Ms X anxiety and frustration.

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Action

24. Within one month of my final decision the Council agreed to:
• Apologise to Ms X for not issuing a final EHC Plan after the 2024 annual review. 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 Ms X £500 to recognise the special educational provision Y missed as a result of not issuing a final EHC Plan after the 2024 annual review.
• Pay Ms X £200 to recognise the frustration and anxiety she experienced pursuing this matter with the Council.
25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

26. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to the above actions to remedy the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman