Summary: We upheld Mr X’s complaint about delays and uncertainty caused in relation to Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by paying Mr X a symbolic payment of £300 for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council has failed to update his child Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan since 2021. He said it failed to complete annual reviews on time and had not updated the EHC Plan in time for Y’s transition to year 3.
2. Mr X said this has had a detrimental effect on Y’s learning and caused stress for his whole family. He wants the Council to provide a financial remedy, review its processes and to rewrite the EHC Plan so it reflects Y’s needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended).
4. 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)
5. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Some of the events Mr X complains about are late because they took place more than 12 months ago. The law says we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
9. Mr X complained that paperwork was not provided to him before the EHC Plan review meeting on 6 October 2023. We will not investigate this element of the complaint because it is late, Mr X was aware of this at the time and there is no good reason why he could not have complained sooner.
10. However, I have decided to exercise discretion and investigate what happened from when the October review took place. This is because Mr X only became aware the actions from Y’s annual review had not been progressed in June 2024 when he was informed by the Council. Furthermore, during the period of delay, the Council had instructed him not to contact it to chase as it was experiencing high volumes of work.
11. If we investigated this complaint, we would likely find fault because:
• In its complaint response, the Council upheld Mr X’s complaint for failing to complete the EHC process in line with statutory timescales. The Council completed the EHC plan review on 6 October 2023. It should have issued a decision notice setting out whether it intended to amend, cease or keep the EHC Plan the same within 4 weeks, by 3 November 2023. The Council issued the decision notice in June 2024, which is a delay of 8 months.
12. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Mr X by the delays.
13. Mr X complained that a school place was not available for Y because of the Council’s delays and Y’s EHC Plan was not updated. Mr X appealed to the SEND Tribunal, and I consider it reasonable for him to have done so and therefore we will not investigate this element of the complaint.

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Agreed action

14. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to:
• pay Mr X a symbolic payment of £300 to acknowledge the frustration and uncertainty caused by the Council not issuing a decision within statutory timescales.

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Final decision

15. We upheld this complaint because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman