Summary: The Council delayed issuing a final education, health and care plan following an annual review and failed to pay for X’s speech and language therapy. That delayed Mr Y’s right of appeal, caused Mr Y distress and led to X missing out on special educational needs provision. An apology and payment to Mr Y is satisfactory remedy.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr Y, complained on behalf of his child, X. Mr Y complained the Council:
• delayed issuing a final education, health and care plan (EHC Plan) following an annual review in September 2023; and
• failed to make payments for X’s speech and language therapy which meant they missed out on 10 sessions.
2. Mr Y says the Council’s actions impacted on X’s mental health, led to X missing out on special educational needs provision and caused his family significant stress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
6. 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(i), as amended)
7. 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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What I have and have not investigated

8. I have exercised the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate what has happened since September 2023 even though that is more than 12 months before Mr Y complained to us. That is because I am satisfied there was an ongoing injustice.
9. I have not investigated Mr Y’s concerns about the content of the last EHC Plan issued. That is because it relates to a matter where Mr Y has, and has exercised, a right of appeal.

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How I considered this complaint

10. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and Mr Y's comments;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided.
11. Mr Y and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

EHC Plans and special educational provision

12. A child or young person with special educational needs may have an EHC Plan. This document sets out the child's needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the Tribunal or the council can do this.
13. Local authorities (councils) have a duty to arrange the special educational provision set out in an EHC Plan. (Children and Families Act 2014 section 42)

The special educational and disability needs code of practice (code of practice)

14. EHC Plans must be reviewed by the local authority as a minimum every 12 months.
15. Within four weeks of the review meeting, the local authority must decide whether it proposes to keep the plan as it is, amend the plan, or cease to maintain the plan, and notify the child’s parent or the young person. If the plan needs to be amended, the local authority should start the process of amendment without delay.
16. If the local authority decides to continue to make amendments, it must issue the amended EHC Plan as quickly as possible and within 8 weeks of the original amendment notice. If the local authority decides not to make the amendments, it must notify the child’s parent or the young person, explaining why, within the same time limit.

What happened

17. X has special educational needs and an EHC Plan.
18. The Council held an annual review of the EHC Plan in September 2023. Mr Y asked for an increase in speech and language therapy hours and reptile therapy.
19. Mr Y contacted the Council in November 2023 to ask for further amendments to the EHC Plan. The Council responded in January 2024 to say it would make some amendments to the EHC Plan. The Council told Mr Y its decision-making panel would consider his request for a reptile course for X.
20. At the end of January the Council told Mr Y it had agreed the online course for X.
21. Mr Y contacted the Council on 31 January as it had not paid a speech and language therapy invoice from November 2023. Mr Y chased the Council about that on 19 February, pointing out X had not received speech and language therapy because of it.
22. Mr Y chased the Council for the updated EHC Plan in April and July. In July the Council told Mr Y it would finalise the EHC Plan and apologised for the delays.
23. Mr Y chased the Council for the EHC Plan again in September, October and November. Mr Y’s MP also contacted the Council. In November the Council told the MP it would make the amendments to the EHC Plan and finalise it by 22 November.
24. As Mr Y had not received a final EHC Plan he put in a complaint to the Council in March 2025. The Council responded to that complaint on 2 May.
25. The Council sent Mr Y a draft EHC Plan on 24 April. Mr Y asked for some amendments. The Council issued a final EHC Plan on 21 May. Mr Y appealed.
26. Mr Y asked the Council to take his complaint to stage two. The Council responded to that complaint on 1 July and upheld it. The Council offered Mr Y a financial remedy of £400 to reflect the 10 speech and language therapy sessions X had missed.

Analysis

27. Mr Y says the Council delayed issuing a final EHC Plan following the annual review in September 2023. I set out in paragraphs 15 and 16 the timescales the Council needs to follow following an annual review. It is clear the Council failed to comply with those timescales as it did not issue a final EHC Plan until May 2025. That was 20 months after the annual review took place. That is a considerable delay and is fault. It also meant the Council did not carry out another annual review in 2025, as it should have done.
28. The Council has not provided any explanation for its delays. It is clear though the content of the EHC Plan has changed and there is now extra provision in the EHC Plan. I am therefore satisfied as well as delaying Mr Y’s appeal rights the delay likely impacted on the provision available to X. I also consider Mr Y has experienced significant distress as well as having to go to time and trouble to pursue matters as he repeatedly chased the Council. To remedy that I recommended the Council apologise to Mr Y and pay him £1,000. I do not make any recommendation for procedural remedies because the Council agreed to draw up an action plan to address the issues with delays following reviews as part of the remedy for another case.
29. The Council accepts its failure to make payments for X’s speech and language therapy meant they missed out on 10 sessions. The Council has offered £400 to reflect those missing sessions. I consider that a satisfactory remedy for this part of the complaint. That makes a total financial remedy of £1,400, which the Council has agreed to.

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Action

30. Within one month of my decision the Council should:
• apologise to Mr Y and X for the distress and frustration they experienced due to the faults identified in this decision. The Council may want to refer to the Ombudsman’s updated guidance on remedies, which sets out the standards we expect apologies to meet;
• pay Mr Y £1,400.
31. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

32. I find fault causing injustice. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman