Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in finalising her daughter’s Education Health and Care Plan and the information supplied to Miss X. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing a significant enough injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about delays in finalising her daughter’s Education Health and Care (EHC) plan and poor information provided by the Council during the process.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (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 regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X requested an Education Health and needs assessment for her daughter In April 2024.
8. The EHC Plan was issued in August 2024 naming a type of school. A further revised plan was issued in October 2024, naming a school.
9. I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council delayed completing the EHC needs assessment because the final EHC Plan was issued within the statutory timeframe. I cannot investigate the failure to name a school placement as Miss X appealed to the Tribunal about this decision.
10. A Council officer gave Miss X information that was accurate at the time but became outdated due to subsequent changes. The Council has apologised and outlined a service improvement in response to her complaint.
11. I will not investigate this element of her complaint further because any injustice caused by the Council’s actions is not significant enough to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in finalising her daughter’s EHC plan and the information supplied by the Council. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing Miss X an injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman