Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed completing the Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment and EHC Plan for her daughter, B. The Council also failed to ensure appropriate alternative provision was in place when B was unable to attend school full-time due to their needs. We found the Council at fault. It has agreed to pay Mrs X in recognition of the loss of education and the avoidable stress and uncertainty.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained that Cambridgeshire County Council (the Council) delayed completing the Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment and EHC Plan for her daughter, B. The Council also failed to ensure appropriate alternative provision was in place when B was unable to attend school full-time due to their needs. As a result, B missed out on education and her welfare suffered. She and the family also experienced avoidable stress and uncertainty due to the delays.

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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 future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I have investigated events from May 2024, when the request for an EHC Needs Assessment was made, until May 2025 when a complaint was made to us.
7. I have not investigated how the Council considered any alternative provision for B prior to May 2024 as this falls outside our 12-month time limit for complaints and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate this period.
8. I also have not investigated the period between May 2025, when a draft EHC Plan had been produced, until the final EHC Plan was issued in July 2025. These events have not been through the Council’s complaints process.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Mrs 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

EHC Plan 

11. 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. 

Timescales and process for EHC assessment 

12. Statutory guidance ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ (‘the Code’) sets out the process for carrying out EHC assessments and producing EHC Plans. The guidance is based on the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEN Regulations 2014. It says the following: 
• The process of assessing needs and developing EHC Plans “must be carried out in a timely manner”. Steps must be completed as soon as practicable. 
• If the council goes on to carry out an assessment, it must decide whether to issue an EHC Plan or refuse to issue a Plan within 16 weeks.
• If the council goes on to issue an EHC Plan, the whole process from the point when an assessment is requested until the final EHC Plan is issued must take no more than 20 weeks (unless certain specific circumstances apply);  

Advice and Information for EHC needs assessments

13. As part of the assessment, councils must gather advice from relevant professionals (SEND Regulation 6(1)). This includes psychological advice and information from an Educational Psychologist (EP). Those consulted have a maximum of six weeks to provide the advice. 

Mediation

14. Councils must arrange for a child’s parents or the young person to receive information about mediation as an informal way to resolve disputes about decisions that can be appealed to the Tribunal. Parents need to consider mediation and get a ‘mediation certificate’ before they can appeal to the Tribunal. They do not have to agree to attend mediation.

Section 19 duty

15. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that councils must arrange suitable alternative educational provision when it finds that a child is unable to attend school because of a permanent exclusion, an illness, or for any other reason which make the school inaccessible to the child. The alternative educational provision must be suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs they have.

Establishing a section 19 duty

16. If a council discovers a child is absent from school for an extended period, it should consider the reasons for this and take account of evidence from relevant parties (such as the child’s school, parents, and medical professionals). It must then decide whether it has a duty to make alternative educational provision.

Arranging person-centred provision

17. If the council decides it must arrange alternative provision, it needs to arrange provision based on the child’s individual needs. It should also have a review process to ensure the provision remains in the child’s best interests. Councils can decide a child cannot cope with full-time provision, especially where the reason for their non-attendance is medical. When this happens, the Council should provide reasons for the amount of provision it arranges.
18. If a child has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan the council also has an ongoing duty to arrange the support guaranteed by the Plan. However, this might not always be possible, such as where the SEN support is designed for the child’s normal classroom setting.
19. Councils should also think about the steps needed to reintegrate the child back into their usual school setting, through ongoing conversations with relevant professionals and the parents.

Part-time timetables

20. The DfE guidance (Working together to improve school attendance) states all pupils of compulsory school age are entitled to a full-time education. In very exceptional circumstances there may be a need for a temporary part-time timetable to meet a pupil’s individual needs. For example where a medical condition prevents a pupil from attending full-time education and a part-time timetable is considered as part of a re-integration package. A part-time timetable must not be treated as a long-term solution

Guidance for practitioners

21. We publish good practice guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to identify and arrange alternative educational provision: Supporting children out of school (October 2025)

What happened

22. In May 2024, B was struggling to attend school due to her educational needs and mental health. B had a reduced timetable in place of three hours per week, including some specific therapy. Mrs X has said she also arranged some private tuition on an informal basis to help B keep up with her education.
23. The Council was informed, some months before May 2024, that B’s school had put alternative provision in place. The Council says it was in regular communication with the school.
24. The Council received requests to carry out an EHC Needs Assessment for B in May 2024. The Council refused the request and Mrs X asked to appeal the decision. The Council arranged for mediation ahead of the appeals process and this took place in September 2024.
25. As a result of the mediation the Council found it had made its initial decision using incorrect and incomplete referral information. The Council reassessed its decision and in late September agreed to complete an EHC Needs Assessment for B.
26. In February 2025 Mrs X complained to the Council about delays in the assessment process. The Council responded in March 2025, apologising for and apologised for the delays and said that it was not yet able to provide a timescale for the EP report, a key element of the EHC needs assessment. The Council stated this delay was due to the volume of requests received and a shortage of EPs.
27. This complaint response also encouraged Mrs X to discuss alternative provision with B’s school until the EHC needs assessment was completed.
28. The Council responded to Mrs X’s stage two complaint at the end of March 2025. It apologised for the delay in completing the EHC needs assessment. The EP assessment had still not been completed.
29. The EP assessment was completed in April 2025 and the Council agreed to produce an EHC Plan for B the same month. The Council also responded to a stage three complaint by Mrs X in late April. It apologised again for the delays and gave reassurance it was making service improvements to prevent future delays, but did not offer any personal remedy for B or Mrs X. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in May 2025.
30. The Council issued a draft EHC Plan at the end of April 2025, and the final EHC plan in July 2025. The final plan included a total of 5.25 hours per week of different educational support and therapy.

Analysis

Section 19 duty

31. The Council was aware before May 2024 that B was receiving a very reduced timetable. The Council did not make contact with B’s parents, or that it properly considered its section 19 duty to review whether the alternative provision was appropriate and meeting B’s needs. It also did not conduct any review of the reduced timetable (three hours per week) between May 2024 and May 2025. This is fault which has resulted in uncertainty over whether B has missed out on education.

Delays in EHC needs assessment

32. The Council has also delayed significantly in completing the EHC needs assessment process. The Council made this worse by referring to incorrect information during its initial assessment of the request. As it then overturned its decision to refuse an EHC needs assessment, the statutory timescales for completion of each stage of the assessment process and EHC Plan should begin from the initial request in May 2024.
33. The Council should have issued a draft EHC Plan in August 2024, and a final Plan by September 2024. It did not issue a draft until April 2025 (a delay of 35 weeks) or a final until July 2025. This was fault in the form of service failure.
34. There was an initial delay caused by an EP shortage, from September 2024 to April 2025, and then a second period of delay after the EP report before it issued a final EHC Plan in July 2025. The child did not receive the SEN support they would have received if it were not for the second period of delay. These delays also caused B and her family significant uncertainty and frustration.
35. I am aware of a nationwide issue around the shortage of EPs and subsequent delays with EHC needs assessments. Also, the Council has previously informed us of its service improvement plan which followed a Special Educational Needs inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Ofsted in May 2025. This plan aims to improve timescales and the quality of EHC needs assessments through increased resourcing and recruitment, as well as other measures such as implementing a new case management system. I will therefore not make further recommendations for service improvements at this time.

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Action

36. In recognition of the injustice caused to Mrs X and B, I recommend, within one month of the final decision, the Council should:
• Apologise to Mrs X and B in accordance with our guidance on making an effective apology;
• Pay Mrs X £100 per month (total of £700 for seven months) to recognise the uncertainty, avoidable distress and frustration caused by the delay in obtaining advice from an EP.
• Pay Mrs X £700 to recognise B’s loss of opportunity to receive provision in line with their EHC Plan between April and July 2025 caused by the delay in issuing the final Plan after it had obtained EP advice.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

38. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman