Summary: We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment for the complainant’s child within the statutory timescale. The Council has agreed to provide a proportionate remedy and this removes the need for us to investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council has failed to complete her child’s Education Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) and issue an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan within the timescale set out in the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice.

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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. 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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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X requested an EHCNA for her child in March 2024. The Council has agreed to issue an EHC plan but has not yet done so. The process has therefore been delayed by 13 months so far. The Council has attributed the delay in part to the lack of educational psychology resource.
7. The Ombudsman regards delay in assessing education health and care needs due to the lack of specialist advice as amounting to service failure. We are satisfied that the Council has a plan in place to address the lack of specialist advice.
8. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely we would find fault causing Ms X injustice because of the distress and uncertainty caused by the delay.

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Agreed action

9. We therefore asked the Council to, within one month of the date of this decision, offer to make a symbolic payment of £1300 to Mrs X in recognition of the 13-month delay so far, and pay £100 for each further month until the Council issues the EHC plan, to a maximum of £600 in recognition of the further delay.
10. To its credit the Council has agreed to take the action we asked for. This removes the need for us to investigate

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Final decision

11. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman