Summary: The Council failed to ensure Mrs X’s child, Y received therapy provision in line with their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan between May 2024 and February 2026. It also delayed issuing an amended EHC Plan following an annual review in June 2025. The Council agreed to apologise and make payments to recognise the impact on Y’s education and the distress and uncertainty caused. The Council will also produce an action plan to explain how it intends to deliver Y’s therapy provision and continue making payments to Mrs X until it is in place.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to ensure her child, Y received therapy provision in line with their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan since it was included in May 2024. She said Y is still without therapy provision to date.
2. Mrs X also complained the Council has failed to issue an amended EHC Plan for Y following annual reviews in June and December 2025.
3. Mrs X said the lack of therapy provision has impacted on Y’s education and development and has caused the wider family distress and uncertainty.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
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)
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Mrs X and Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

EHC Plans

9. 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.
10. The EHC Plan is set out in sections which include: 

• Section B: Special educational needs.  
• Section F: The special educational provision needed by the child or the young person. 
• Section I: The name and/or type of educational placement.

11. The council has a duty to make sure the child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of an EHC Plan (Section 42 Children and Families Act). The Courts have said the duty to arrange this provision is owed personally to the child and is non-delegable. This means if the council asks another organisation to make the provision and that organisation fails to do so, the council remains liable (R v London Borough of Harrow ex parte M [1997] ELR 62), (R v North Tyneside Borough Council [2010] EWCA Civ 135)

Annual Reviews

12. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. Where the council proposes to amend an EHC Plan following a review, the law says it must send the child’s parent or the young person a copy of the existing (non-amended) Plan and an accompanying notice providing details of the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence to support the proposed changes. (Section 22(2) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.194). Case law sets out this should happen within four weeks of the date of the review meeting. Case law also found councils must issue the final amended EHC Plan within a further eight weeks.

SEND tribunal

13. 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.
14. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against a council’s description of a child or young person’s SEN, the special educational provision specified, the school or placement or that no school or other placement is specified in their EHC Plan.

What happened

15. Mrs X has a child Y who in 2024 was of secondary school age. Y has special educational needs including a diagnosis of Autism and as such has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
16. Following Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy assessments in early 2024 the Council issued Y with an amended EHC Plan in May 2024. Relevant to his case was the inclusion of the following provision in section F;
• A total of 75.5 hours of Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) over a school year delivered via consistent sessions on a weekly basis.
• 38.5 hours of Occupational Therapy (OT) over a school year delivered via 45 minute sessions on a weekly basis.
• Time for both SALT and OT’s to review Y’s targets, attend annual review meetings and carry out training.
17. Taking into account school holidays this provision should have been in place and delivered from the start of June 2024.
18. Mrs X complained to the Council in March 2025 that the Council had failed to provide Y’s therapy provision. She said Y was struggling in school and not coping because of the lack of support.
19. The Council responded a few weeks later and acknowledged Y’s therapy was not in place for which it apologised. The Council said the school was unable to provide the level of support in Y’s Plan. It said it would discuss the situation at Y’s forthcoming annual review after the Easter holidays. The Council said Y may need up to date assessments.
20. Mrs X escalated her complaint to stage two of the complaints process.
21. The Council provided a final response in May 2025. The Council again recognised that Y was not receiving the therapy provision despite its best efforts. The Council referred to the annual review which was forthcoming as a way to resolve the matter.
22. Mrs X remained unhappy and complained to us. She said to date Y has not received any therapy provision. Mrs X said the two annual reviews were held in June and December 2025 but she had not received any documentation, decision letters or an amended Plan to date.

My findings

23. Y’s EHC Plan contains a significant amount of OT and SALT provision which should be delivered over the school year. The Council had a legal duty to ensure Y’s OT and SALT provision was in place to be delivered following the May 2024 EHC Plan, so by the start of the June-July 2024 summer term. To date that provision has not been delivered which is fault.
24. The fault means Y has not received the therapy they are entitled to for five school terms and this injustice continues. This has impacted on Y’s ability to cope at school both academically and socially and has caused distress and uncertainty.
25. Evidence shows annual reviews of Y’s EHC Plan in mid-June 2025 and the start of December 2025. To date the Council has not issued Y’s amended EHC Plan which is currently a delay of 24 weeks from the June review. The delay is causing Mrs X and Y uncertainty, frustration and delayed appeal rights.
26. As a result of a recent Ombudsman investigation the Council currently has an ongoing action plan to resolve a shortage of therapists in its area. This includes:
• Expanding the pool of professionals available for commissioning.
• Introducing a more efficient way of approving funding.
• Ongoing recruitment and workforce development initiatives to support more timely delivery of therapy provision.
27. Given the above I have not made further service improvement recommendations around the lack of therapists, and we will monitor compliance of the ongoing action plan through our case work.

Back to top

Action

28. Within one month of the final decision the Council agreed to take the following action:
1. Apologise to Mrs X and Y for the ongoing distress, uncertainty and impact on Y’s education caused by the continued delay in putting therapy provision in place as outlined in Y’s EHC Plan and the delayed annual review process. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended.
2. Pay Mrs X a total £6200 to recognise the injustice caused to Y by the failure to ensure therapy provision in line with Y’s EHC Plan was delivered between June 2024 and February 2025.
3. Produce an action plan which outlines how it intends to commission and start delivering Y’s therapy provision. The Council should provide us with monthly updates of its progress.
4. Continue paying Mrs X £100 a week (for a maximum of six months) until therapy provision is in place. The Council should us with evidence on a monthly basis when payments are made.
5. Issue Y’s amended final EHC Plan.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

30. I find fault causing injustice and have made recommendations for the Council to remedy that injustice.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman