Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan for his son, Y, within statutory timescales following moving to its area. Mr X complains the Council also failed to provide the content of Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan up until September 2025. Mr X says this caused Y to miss provision and caused his family distress. We have found fault in the Council’s actions for delay in issuing Y’s amended Education, Health and Care Plan and failing to provide a specialist teacher in line with his plan. The Council has agreed to write to Mr X to apologise and pay a symbolic payment.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to issue an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan for his son, Y, within statutory timescales following moving to its area. Mr X complains the Council also failed to provide the content of Y’s EHC Plan up until September 2025.
2. Mr X says this caused Y to miss provision and caused his family distress.

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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 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 injustice we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
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 evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Mr X and the Council were invited to comment on my draft decision. I have considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

8. Where a child or young person moves to another council, the ‘old’ council must transfer the EHC plan to the ‘new’ council on the day of the move, or, where it did not know about the move, within 15 working days from when it found out. (Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 Regulation 15(2))
9. The new council must tell the child’s parent or the young person, within six weeks of the date of transfer:

• that the EHC Plan has been transferred;
• whether it proposes to make an EHC needs assessment; and
• when it proposed to review the EHC Plan or when it proposes to make an EHC needs assessment. (Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 Regulation 15(4))

10. Where a child or young person moves to another council, the ‘old’ council must transfer the EHC Plan to the ‘new’ council. The new council must make sure the provision in the EHC Plan begins on the day of the move or within 15 working days of becoming aware of the move if this is later. The new council must review the EHC Plan either within 12 months of it last being reviewed or three months of the date of the transfer, whichever is the later date. (Section 15 Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014) 

What happened

11. The ‘old’ Council issued Y’s EHC Plan in late January 2024. This said Y should receive Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) support, Occupational Therapy (OT) support and specialist teacher support.
12. Mr X contacted the Council in early January 2025 to confirm Y would be moving to its area from the ‘old’ Council area. Mr X sent a further email in mid-January 2025 as he had not received a response to his earlier email.
13. The ‘old’ Council sent handover documents to the Council in late January 2025 to confirm that Y had now moved to its area.
14. Y’s school held an annual review in late January 2025.
15. Mr X complained to the Council in late February 2025 to say he informed it in advance Y would be moving to is area but it did not take action to ensure the provision in his EHC Plan was in place. Mr X said SaLT and OT provision had stopped from the end of January 2025. Mr X also said the ‘old’ Council were continuing to provide the specialist teacher provision noted in the EHC Plan but it was not clear how long this would continue.
16. The Council issued a complaint response in mid-March 2025 which said although Mr X had told it Y would be moving to its area it could not act until it had received the handover information from the ‘old’ Council. The Council apologised for lack of communication and delay in transfer. It said it would be providing SaLT and OT provision via independent providers.
17. Mr X emailed the Council several days later and asked about provision. The Council responded to say commissioning for therapies had been arranged.
18. Mr X emailed the Council in mid-March to say he understood SaLT and OT provision had been agreed and would start shortly. Mr X said Y had missed out on seven SaLT and nine OT sessions and asked the Council to cover the cost of these to allow him to purchase catch up sessions.
19. The Council emailed Mr X in early April to confirm it had commission five hours per term of support for a specialist teacher and also offered to pay Mr X £875.00 to cover 14 hours of missed SaLT and OT provision.
20. The Council received annual review paperwork from Y’s school in mid-April 2025. The school said the paperwork had been sent to the ‘old’ Council originally and it had forwarded it on once it had been advised Y now lived in a different area.
21. The Council emailed Mr X in late April 2025 to confirm he should receive the reimbursement for missed SaLT and OT sessions within five-seven days.
22. The Council issued a draft EHC Plan in early June 2025, and Mr X responded the following day to say he was unhappy with the draft plan.
23. Mr X raised a further complaint with the Council in June 2025 to say Y was not receiving the specialist teacher provision outlined in his EHC Plan. Mr X says this ceased in March 2025 and the Council had put no support in place.
24. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in late June 2025 and said it had contacted the service providing the specialist teacher and had initiated the process to allow it to make payments to it. The Council issued a further response in early July 2025 and apologised for the delay in sourcing the specialist teacher.
25. The Council issued a new EHC Plan in September 2025. I understand Mr X appealed to the tribunal concerning sections B and F.

Analysis

Review of EHC Plan

26. I have not been able to see the Council contacted Mr X within six weeks to confirm if it had transferred the plan, proposed to make a needs assessment or proposed to review the plan. This is fault.
27. I have not been able to see the Council completed a review of the EHC Plan within three months of the date of the transfer. This is fault. However, Y’s school did complete an annual review in January 2025, and the Council received a copy of the review paperwork in April 2025 which is within three months of the transfer of the plan. As such, there was no injustice to Y in the Council not completing the review as it had taken place.
28. The Council received the annual review paperwork in mid-April 2025 and issued a draft plan within five weeks. However, the final plan was not issued until the end of September 2025. There is a delay of around 11 weeks in issuing the plan. This is fault and would have caused Mr X distress and frustration.

Section F provision

29. Mr X wrote to the Council in mid-March 2025 after it had secured SaLT and OT provision going forward for Y. Mr X told the Council Y had or would miss out on seven SaLT sessions and nine OT sessions by the time these were in place. The Council agreed to pay Mr X £875 in recognition of the missed sessions to remedy the injustice. I do not feel any further remedy regarding these provisions is needed.
30. Mr X complained to the Council in June 2025 and said it had not put the specialist teacher provision outlined in Y’s EHC Plan in place. This is fault and has caused Mr X distress and frustration and has meant Y has missed out on provision.
31. I understand the Council had been working to add the provider of the specialist teacher provision to its system to allow it to pay them. However, this was not completed and the provider confirmed it provided no provision between April 2025 and September 2025.

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Action

32. Within four weeks of a final decision the Council should:

• Write to Mr X to apologise for the distress caused by the faults identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Mr X £250 in recognition of the frustration and distress caused by the delay in issuing Y’s amended EHC Plan following the annual review.
• Pay Mr X £500 to recognise the missed provision for Y between April 2025 and September 2025.

33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

34. I find fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman