Summary: Mrs X says the Council delayed in completing an Education, Health and Care assessment for her child who was out of education. She reports that this issue has affected her child’s mental health and her whole family. We found the Council at fault. There was a ten month delay in the Council completing the assessment. The Council will apologise and make payment to Mrs X to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says the Council delayed in completing the Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment for her child who was out of education at the time.
2. She says that this issue has affected her whole family and has been distressing for her child especially due to the uncertainty this has caused.

Back to top

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 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)
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).

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

6. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
7. Mrs X explains that her child has been out of education for the past three years. The Council says that Mrs X’s child had decreasing attendance at school before they stopped attending completely in September 2024. It has since provided online provision which will continue as part of a bespoke learning package under the EHC plan.
8. The provision provided before 2024 would be outside our jurisdiction because of the time since the events occurred. Since 2024, the Council through the school has provided some provision online. The evidence provided shows that it has considered the health concerns of the child when providing this provision and held regular meetings with the family regarding this.
9. I do not consider therefore it would be proportional for me to investigate the matters regarding the provision provided during this time. The review will therefore focus on the EHC assessment process.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

10. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance. Mrs X and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.
11. I have also considered the relevant statutory guidance, as set out below. In addition, I have considered the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.

Back to top

What I found

What should have happened

12. 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.
13. Statutory guidance ‘Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years’ (‘the Code’) sets out the process for carrying out EHC assessments and producing EHC Plans. The guidance is based on the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEN Regulations 2014. It says the following: 

• Where the council receives a request for an EHC needs assessment it must decide whether to agree to the assessment and send its decision to the parent of the child or the young person within six weeks. 
• The process of assessing needs and developing EHC Plans “must be carried out in a timely manner”. Steps must be completed as soon as practicable. 
• If the council goes on to carry out an assessment, it must decide whether to issue an EHC Plan or refuse to issue a Plan within 16 weeks.
• If the council goes on to issue an EHC Plan, the whole process from the point when an assessment is requested until the final EHC Plan is issued must take no more than 20 weeks (unless certain specific circumstances apply).  

14. As part of the assessment, councils must gather advice from relevant professionals (SEND Regulation 6(1)). This includes: 

• the child’s educational placement; 
• medical advice and information from health care professionals involved with the child; 
• psychological advice and information from an Educational Psychologist (EP); 
• social care advice and information; 
• advice and information from any person requested by the parent or young person, where the council considers it reasonable; and 
• any other advice and information the council considers appropriate for a satisfactory assessment. 

15. Those consulted have a maximum of six weeks to provide the advice.

What happened

16. Mrs X says that she applied for an EHC assessment for her child in February 2025 and was told by the Council in March 2025 that her child would be accepted.
17. Mrs X reports that she had no contact from the EP assigned to her and was told the Council had IT issues. She says that in September 2025 the Council told her the EP had left and a new EP would be assigned.
18. In October 2025, Mrs X says that she was contacted by the new EP and in January 2026 an EHC Plan was agreed.

Analysis

19. After Mrs X had approached the Council at the beginning of February 2025, it had until March 2025 to decide whether an assessment was needed. The Council then had a further 20 weeks to issue an EHC Plan. The failure to do so for almost 12 months is therefore fault by the Council.
20. The Council has explained the delay occurred due to a national shortage of EPs and due to one leaving during the assessment process.
21. The Council is on an agreed action plan with the Ombudsman to help improve its service regarding EHC assessments. I have decided therefore not to recommend any further service improvements in relation to this issue, as I am satisfied the Council is taking action to improve its services.
22. The fault by the Council has caused Mrs X injustice in the form of distress. This distress has been caused by the uncertainty over the situation, in not knowing whether the Council would agree to carry out an assessment. Also, in not being able to plan effectively for her child’s future education plans.
23. Our guidance on remedies sets out what a Council should do to recognise the distress and uncertainty caused by the failure to complete an assessment within the timeframes set out above.
24. Overall, the delay in completing the assessment and issuing an EHC Plan is ten months. I therefore find the Council should provide an award of £1,000 in total (£100 per month of delay) in consideration of the distress this issue has caused Mrs X and her family. It should also apologise to her in consideration of the injustice caused.

Back to top

Action

25. Within four weeks of my final decision, the Council has agreed to:
1. Provide a written apology to Mrs X for the unnecessary and avoidable distress caused by the delay in completing an EHC assessment.
2. Pay Mrs X £1,000 for distress caused in the delay in completing the EHC assessment.
26. 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.
27. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

28. I find fault causing injustice. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Mrs X.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman