Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed completing the Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment and EHC Plan for her daughter, Y, and failed to provide alternative educational provision when Y could not attend school full-time due to her needs. We find the Council at fault for significant delays in the EHC process. The Council has agreed to apologise and pay Mrs X £500 to recognise the distress and uncertainty caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council delayed completing the Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment and EHC Plan for her daughter, Y. Mrs X said the Council failed to provide alternative educational provision when Y could not attend school full-time due to her needs. She said that Y and the family experienced avoidable uncertainty and distress, as well as financial loss from paying for private tuition.

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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 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. 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)
5. 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated events from September 2024, when Y moved to a part‑time timetable and the Council was (or should have been) aware, through to 31 August 2025 when the final EHC Plan was issued. This period covers the statutory EHC process after the assessment decision and the time Y was not in full‑time education.
7. I have not investigated later concerns about the delivery of provision after the final EHC Plan because those matters had not completed the Council’s complaint process and fall outside the scope of this investigation.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
9. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.
10. 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 found

EHC Plan 

11. 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. 

Timescales and process for EHC assessment 

12. 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: 
• 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);  

Section 19 duty

13. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that councils must arrange suitable alternative educational provision when it finds that a child is unable to attend school because of a permanent exclusion, an illness, or for any other reason which make the school inaccessible to the child. The alternative educational provision must be suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs they have.

Establishing a section 19 duty

14. If a council discovers a child is absent from school for an extended period, it should consider the reasons for this and take account of evidence from relevant parties (such as the child’s school, parents, and medical professionals). It must then decide whether it has a duty to make alternative educational provision.

Arranging person-centred provision

15. If the council decides it must arrange alternative provision, it needs to arrange provision based on the child’s individual needs. It should also have a review process to ensure the provision remains in the child’s best interests. Councils can decide a child cannot cope with full-time provision, especially where the reason for their non-attendance is medical. When this happens, the Council should provide reasons for the amount of provision it arranges.
16. If a child has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan the council also has an ongoing duty to arrange the support guaranteed by the Plan. However, this might not always be possible, such as where the SEN support is designed for the child’s normal classroom setting.
17. Councils should also think about the steps needed to reintegrate the child back into their usual school setting, through ongoing conversations with relevant professionals and the parents.

Part-time timetables

18. The DfE guidance (Working together to improve school attendance) states all pupils of compulsory school age are entitled to a full-time education. In very exceptional circumstances there may be a need for a temporary part-time timetable to meet a pupil’s individual needs. For example where a medical condition prevents a pupil from attending full-time education and a part-time timetable is considered as part of a re-integration package. A part-time timetable must not be treated as a long-term solution

Guidance for practitioners

19. We publish good practice guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to identify and arrange alternative educational provision: Supporting children out of school (October 2025)

What happened

20. The Council received a request for an EHC assessment for Y in July 2024. In August 2024 the Council agreed to complete the assessment.
21. Y was not able to attend school full-time due to her needs and mental health. In September 2024 Y was accessing a flexible part-time timetable where she attended school three days per week, arranged by the school. Mrs X also paid privately for extra tuition for Y on the days she did not attend school.
22. Mrs X sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Council in December 2024, advising she would take the case to judicial review if the delays continued. Mrs X said she did not receive any response from the Council.
23. In March 2025 the Council decided to complete an EHC Plan for Y. The Council also assigned an education key worker to support Y to attend school. The key worker provided support to Y on a weekly basis between March 2025 and July 2025.
24. Mrs X complained to the Council about the delay producing an EHC Plan in April 2025. The Council delayed replying to this complaint, and a response was sent to Mrs X in June 2025. The Council apologised for the delays. It advised that a draft EHC Plan would be shared shortly.
25. The Council circulated the draft EHC Plan in June 2025 but did not issue a final plan until late August 2025. Mrs X has not appealed about the content of the EHC Plan.

Analysis

Delays in EHC process

26. The Council’s made its decision to complete an EHC needs assessment for Y within the statutory timescale. The final plan should have been issued within 20 weeks which would have been December 2024. The Council issued final plan in August 2025.
27. The Council also communicated poorly with Mrs X, causing avoidable uncertainty and stress. The Council said the delays and poor communication were due to staffing challenges and that its Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) team was experiencing a significantly larger workload than expected.
28. The Council has acknowledged there was a significant delay of 38.5 weeks before it issued the final EHC Plan. This is fault which caused Y and her family distress and uncertainty.

Section 19 duty

29. The Council was aware of Y accessing school part-time from September 2024. It assigned an education key worker for Y between March and July 2025, but this is support and not alternative educational provision.
30. If the final EHC Plan had not been delayed, Y would have had additional support to access education from early December 2024. The Council did not properly consider its duty under section 19, which is fault. However, the evidence shows Y had a flexi‑schooling arrangement in place from September 2024, which was agreed with Mrs X.
31. Mrs X also arranged for private tuition on the days Y was not attending school. Given this arrangement and the level of provision the school was delivering, I am satisfied that the amount of education Y missed out on during this period did not amount to a significant injustice.

Remedy

32. When we find fault, we aim to put the person back in the position they would have been in had the fault not occurred. Where this is not possible, we may recommend a symbolic payment to recognise the uncertainty, frustration and distress caused.
33. The significant delays and poor communication caused avoidable distress and uncertainty for Y and the family during the EHC assessment process. To recognise this injustice, I recommend a symbolic payment of £500.
34. The Council has previously informed us of its current action plan to complete a review of its Special Educational Needs services, introducing a multi-agency quality assurance framework for EHC Plans and focusing on improving timeliness of assessments. I therefore will not make further recommendations for service improvements at this time.

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Action

35. In recognition of the injustice caused to Mrs X and Y, I recommend, within one month of the final decision, the Council should:
• Apologise to Mrs X and Y in accordance with our guidance on making an effective apology.
• Pay Mrs X £500 in recognition of the avoidable uncertainty and distress caused by the fault.
36. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

37. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman