Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed reviewing a child’s Education Health and Care Plan. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by providing a suitable remedy.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council delayed issuing a final Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan for her child, Y, naming a specialist school.

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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 Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y in April 2024 which said his next school should be a specialist school but did not name a specific school.
9. Y started a placement at a specialist school in early 2025. An annual review was held shortly after and a final EHC Plan naming that school was issued in August 2025.
10. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to name a specialist school in February 2024. This is because this carried a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal and it is reasonable to have expected Mrs X to have used that right of appeal.
11. However, it we were to investigate the Council’s handling of the annual review in early 2025, it is likely that we would find fault. This is because there was a considerable delay in the Council issuing a final EHC Plan following this review. This caused Mrs X distress in the form of uncertainty.
12. I therefore asked the Council to apologise to Mrs X for the delay and to make a payment to her of £300 within one month to remedy the distress this caused. To its credit, the Council agreed.

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Final decision

13. We have upheld Mrs X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the matter by providing a suitable remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman