Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Education Health and Care needs assessment process. The Council agreed to pay Mr X £800 to remedy injustice caused by its delay during this process. This is a suitable remedy for injustice and there are no wider public interest issues to justify investigating this complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about delays in the Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process which led to a delay in the Council finalising his daughter's (Y) EHC plan.
2. Mr X said this caused him and Y distress and inconvenience.

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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 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)
4. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(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 information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complained about delays caused by the Council in the EHC needs assessment process which led to a delay in it issuing Y’s final EHC plan.
9. Firstly, it took the Council 49 weeks to issue Y with a draft EHC plan.
10. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find this was a service failure. The Council should have issued the draft EHC plan within 16 weeks. Therefore, we asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by making a £400 symbolic payment to Mr X. To its credit, the Council agreed to this action.
11. Secondly, it took the Council 30 weeks after issuing the draft plan to issue the final EHC plan.
12. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find the Council at fault, because this means it missed the 20-week deadline for issuing a final EHC plan. Again, we asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by its actions by making a £400 symbolic payment to Mr X. To its credit, the Council agreed to this action.
13. The Council has agreed to pay Mr X a total symbolic payment of £800 to remedy the injustice caused by the Council’s delays. This is an appropriate remedy for the injustice Mr X has experienced and therefore we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council agreed to pay Mr X £800 to remedy injustice caused by its delay during the process. This is a suitable remedy for injustice and there are no wider public interest issues to justify investigating this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman