Summary: We have upheld this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment for Mrs X’s child within the statutory timescale. The Council has agreed to provide a proportionate remedy and this removes the need for us to investigate.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about delay in the Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan process.  She says the Council has failed to meet the relevant timescales in the SEN Code of Practice.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
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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My assessment

6. Mrs X applied for an EHC Plan for her child on 17 December 2024.  The Council should have completed the assessment process and told Mrs X if it intended to issue a plan within 16 weeks of the initial request, by 8 April 2025.  If the Council decided to issue an EHC Plan it should have done so by 6 May 2025. The Council has not yet completed the process and has attributed the delay in part to the lack of educational psychology resource.
7. The delay in assessing education health and care needs due to the lack of specialist advice amounts to service failure.
8. We are satisfied that the Council has a plan in place to address the lack of specialist advice. In response to our findings in a previous case it sent us an action plan of its service improvements.
9. We do however accept the Council’s delays caused Mrs X and her child frustration and uncertainty and that this injustice remains unremedied. We have therefore invited the Council to provide a remedy to Mrs X and the Council, to its credit, has agreed to our proposal.

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Agreed action

10. The Council has agreed to the following actions to remedy the complaint:
• Apologise to Mrs X for the delay in the EHC Plan process;
• Pay Mrs X £100 for each month of delay to date and for a maximum of six months from the date of this decision.
• If the Council decides to issue an EHC Plan the delay should remedy should be calculated from 6 May 2025 until either the Council issues Mrs X the final EHC Plan, or until 13 May 2026 (whichever comes first).
• If the Council decides not to issue a plan, the remedy should be calculated from 8 April 2025 until either the date the Council notifies Mrs X of its decision, or until 13 May 2026 (whichever comes first).
11. The Council will make this payment within four weeks of the relevant date.
12. In the event the delay continues beyond 13 May 2026 we would expect Mrs X to make a new complaint to the Council. Once the complaint has exhausted the Council’s complaints process, and in the event Mrs X remains unhappy, she may refer the complaint to us and we will consider whether to investigate it further.
13. I consider the remedy agreed by the Council is suitable and that it is taking steps to address the issue at the heart of this complaint. It is therefore unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for Mrs X.

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Final decision

14. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by providing a proportionate remedy to the injustice caused to Mrs X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman