Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to ensure the annual review of her child, Y’s Educational Health and Care (EHC) Plan was completed within statutory timescales. I have ended this investigation as there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to ensure the annual review of her child, Y’s EHC Plan was completed within statutory timescales. Miss X says this caused her distress, frustration and uncertainty.

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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:
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation; or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome; or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
  (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
4. Miss 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 guidance

5. 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. 
6. 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) 
7. If the council decides not to amend an EHC Plan or decides to cease to maintain it, it must inform the child’s parents or the young person of their right to appeal the decision to the tribunal.
8. 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.
9. If the child’s parents or the young person disagrees with the decision to cease the EHC Plan, the council must continue to maintain the EHC Plan until the time has passed for bringing an appeal, or when an appeal has been registered, until it is concluded.

What happened

Previous decision

10. Miss X has a child, Y, who has special educational needs and an EHC Plan in place.
11. In January 2025, we issued a final decision finding fault with the Council for failing to issue a final amended EHC Plan following the annual review in May 2023. Within one month of the final decision, the Council agreed to meet with Miss X to discuss next steps for Y’s EHC Plan. As part of this meeting, it would seek and record Miss X’s views about:
1. updates needed to the EHC Plan, including any views about Y’s school placement;
2. any updated assessments Miss X considers Y needs to update the EHC Plan, such as OT and SaLT assessments; and
3. whether Miss X would like to request a personal budget/ direct payments for the provision in Y’s EHC Plan.
12. Within two weeks of the meeting, the Council agreed it would write to Miss X to confirm:
1. Whether it agreed to arrange any updated assessments Miss X asked for, and if not the reasons for this;
2. Its process for considering any personal budget/direct payment request made by Miss X, including timescales; and
3. a full action plan of next steps, with dates.
13. It also agreed to pay Miss X £1000 for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused.

The current complaint

14. In May 2024, another annual review of Y’s EHC Plan was due.
15. In February 2025, Miss X made a complaint to the Council saying it had failed to ensure the May 2024 annual review was carried out and she had received no formal decision letter. As a result, the EHC Plan continued to contain outdated and inaccurate information. Miss X attached a copy of our January 2025 final decision and asked the Council to outline how it would implement our recommendations.
16. The Council carried out all the recommendations following the complaint except for having a meeting with Miss X as she prefers written communication. In April 2025, the Council issued a final amended EHC Plan.

My findings

17. Miss X complained the Council failed to carry out the May 2024 annual review of Y’s EHC Plan. Following our final decision in January 2025, the Council offered to meet with Miss X to discuss her views on updates needed to the EHC Plan in March 2025. It then issued a final amended EHC Plan in April 2025.
18. I decided to end my investigation as there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. The Council has reviewed Y’s EHC Plan and issued a final amended EHC Plan since May 2024. Miss X could have appealed the Plan to the Tribunal if she was unhappy with the contents.

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Decision

19. I ended this investigation as there is as there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman