Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to complete an Education, Health, and Care needs assessment for her son within legal timescales. We found the Council at fault for significant delays. This caused frustration, distress and uncertainty to Mrs X, which has affected her son’s wellbeing and educational attainment. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to remedy the injustice.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has failed to complete an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her son within statutory timeframes. This has caused significant frustration as the prolonged delay is negatively impacting on him as he cannot access post-16 education without appropriate support in place.

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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 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)
3. 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)
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).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I discussed the complaint with Mrs X and considered her views.
7. I consider the Council’s responses to Mrs X’s formal complaint, as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. Mrs X and the Council 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

Law and administrative background

Education, Health and Care (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. 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.
10. Parents have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. This is only engaged once a decision not to assess, issue or amend a plan has been made and sent to the parent or a final EHC plan has been issued.
11. 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 SEND Regulations 2014. It says 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. 
12. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 say:
• If a council refuses to carry out an EHC needs assessment but then the SEND Tribunal orders them to do so, then they must either decide not to issue an EHC plan within 10 weeks or issue a final EHC Plan within 14 weeks of the order (Regulation 44(2)(b)).
• The above applies if the Council does not oppose the appeal as it will be treated as if it was determined in the favour of the appellant (Regulation 45(2) and 45(3a)(b)).
13. As part of the EHC needs assessment, councils must gather advice from relevant professionals (SEND 2014 Regulations, Regulation 6(1)). This includes advice and information from an Educational Psychologist (EP). Those consulted have six weeks to provide the advice.

Background

14. Mrs X’s son (Y) is no longer of compulsory school age. Throughout the events complained of, Y has not been in education, employment or training (NEET).

What happened – summary of key relevant events

15. In mid-August 2024, Mrs X made an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment request for Y. The next month, the Council refused to assess.
16. In November 2024, the Council overturned its decision and agreed to assess Y.
17. In late February 2025, Mrs X formally complained to the Council about the failure to send a draft EHC Plan in statutory timeframes.
18. In April 2025, the Council responded at Stage 1. It apologised for the delay. It said it could not provide a clear timescale for when it would complete the process. It said it had received high levels of requests with the national shortage of Educational Psychologists (EPs) impacting on its ability to meet legal timeframes. It referred her to Y’s school to provide provision for him. Mrs X escalated her complaint, raising several issues.
19. In June 2025, the Council responded at Stage 2. It upheld Mrs X’s complaint about the delays, acknowledging her concerns that without an EHC Plan, Y could not access appropriate education or support. It said it was actively working to increase its capacity, including recruiting additional EPs and engaging with local professionals to meet the demands. It was part of a broader strategy to try and address the backlogs it was experiencing.
20. It also upheld the complaint about its inaccuracies with Y’s status of being NEET, lack of timely updates and poor communication, and poor complaint handling. It offered Mrs X £150 as a remedy and offered a meeting for Y’s case to be discussed at Panel. Mrs X accepted the payment.
21. In late July 2025, Mrs X complained to us.
22. The Council confirmed it issued a final EHC Plan in late February 2026.

Analysis

23. The Council received the EHC needs assessment in August 2024. It made a prompt decision not to assess but in November 2024 it overturned this and agreed to assess. In accordance with SEN Regulations (Paragraph 12), the Council then should have issued a final EHC Plan by February 2025. It failed to do so and issued one in February 2026. This is significant delay of 12 months.
24. I appreciate the delay is caused by the national shortage of EPs, however statutory guidance is clear regarding timescales and the Council failed to meet this; this is fault in the form of service failure (Paragraph 3). These ongoing delays have caused significant frustration, distress and uncertainty for Mrs X and Y as they have waited excessively longer than necessary for a final EHC Plan, with a lack of timely updates and poor communication. This also delayed her statutory right of appeal; this is further injustice.
25. The Council offered Mrs X a remedy of £150 which she accepted. While it is a positive offer, it falls far short of what we would consider to be an appropriate remedy, given the injustice.
26. In previous decisions in late 2025 around similar fault, we asked the Council for evidence of actions it was taking to address the impact of EP shortages with general EHC needs assessment processes. It provided us with an improvement plan including additional funding for recruitment to increase roles in the SEND team and the capacity of EPs. Some actions were due to be delivered later in 2025 and is an ongoing piece of work, which needs time to embed. I have not considered it necessary to make further service improvement recommendations for now. We will continue to monitor progress through our casework.

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Agreed Action

27. To remedy the injustice set out above, the Council has agreed to carry out the following actions within one month of the final decision:
• Apologise to Mrs X and Y for the injustice caused by the faults identified (in line with our guidance on making an effective apology); and
• Pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £1,050 to recognise her injustice with the delayed EHC needs assessment. This is calculated at £100 per month from the statutory deadline of February 2025, which is when the Council should have issued a final EHC Plan. I have subtracted the £150 Mrs X has already accepted.
28. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

29. I find fault causing injustice. The Council agreed to my recommendations to remedy the injustice caused. I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman