Summary: We have upheld Miss X’s complaint because the Council delayed issuing a final Education Health and Care Plan for her child. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by offering to make a suitable payment to Miss X to remedy the injustice this caused. We will not investigate the school named by the Council because it is reasonable for Miss X to use her right of appeal to a tribunal.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about how the Council dealt with the annual review of her child’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. Miss X says the Council delayed completing the review and named an inappropriate school when it issued a final EHC Plan.

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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 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)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (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.
5. 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

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. The annual review of Miss X’s child’s EHC Plan was held in May 2024, and the Council issued a final EHC Plan in February 2025. The Council apologised to Miss X for the delays.
9. If we were to investigate this complaint it is likely that we would find fault. This is because the Council delayed completing the annual review and issuing a final EHC Plan. The delays have caused Miss X distress in the form of frustration and uncertainty.
10. I therefore asked the Council to make a payment to her of £300 within one month to remedy the distress this has caused. To its credit, the Council agreed.
11. Miss X is unhappy with how the school named in the final EHC Plan. I will not investigate this element of her complaint because it is reasonable for her to use her right of appeal against the contents of the EHC Plan to the SEND Tribunal. Only the Tribunal can direct the Council to name a different school.

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Final decision

12. We have upheld Miss X’s complaint because the Council delayed issuing a final EHC Plan. We will not investigate the contents of the EHC Plan because it is reasonable for Miss X to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman