Summary: The Ombudsman carried out several investigations about delay in the Council carrying out Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan annual reviews for children in its area. We asked the Council questions about the widespread impact of delay. The Council was at fault. It delayed carrying out a significant number of EHC Plan annual reviews for children in its area in 2024. The action proposed by the Council to address the issue is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Section 26D of the Local Government Act 1974 gives us the power to investigate matters coming to our attention during an investigation if we think a member of the public has or may have suffered an injustice as a result.
2. During several other investigations completed by the Ombudsman we identified significant delay in the Council carrying out EHC Plan annual reviews for children in its area.
3. We had reason to believe there was widespread systemic failure on the part of the Council. Therefore, a separate investigation was launched to determine the scale of the problem.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We may investigate matters coming to our attention during an investigation, if we consider that a member of the public who has not complained may have suffered an injustice as a result. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26D and 34E, as amended)
5. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
7. 
   
8. 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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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

Law and guidance

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. 
12. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. The council must complete the review within 12 months of the first EHC Plan and within 12 months of any later reviews. The annual review begins with consulting the child’s parents or the young person and the educational placement. A review meeting must then take place. The process is only complete when the council issues its decision to amend, maintain or discontinue the EHC Plan. This must happen within four weeks of the meeting. (Section 20(10) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.176) 

Background

13. In July 2025 I asked the Council several questions about the EHC Plan annual review process for 2024.
14. My questions focussed on potential delay in carrying out reviews, the scale of the delay, and the intentions of the Council to address the delay.
15. The response from the Council was thorough. It highlighted its intention to address the issues identified through implementation of a detailed action plan.

My Findings

Delay

16. The Council said:
• just over 3,000 annual reviews were due to take place in 2024,
• almost half of those were delayed, and
• approximately 1300 children had been waiting for 12 months or more to have their annual reviews carried out.
17. The scale of the problem is significant. This will, without doubt, have had an impact on the 2025 annual review schedule.
18. I find fault with the Council. It failed to carry out a significant number of annual reviews for children in its area, during the year 2024, within the expected timeframe.
19. This investigation will not be able to accurately capture the impact of this fault, having only analysed data available from the Council. However, we understand the importance of the annual review process, from our extensive work in this area. The annual review process is a statutory process which considers the special educational needs of children and young people, the provision being delivered, and whether provision needs to be changed. For some children in important transitional stages, it provides an opportunity to prepare for provision in a new setting or prepares young people for moving on to post 16 settings.
20. The identification of such significant delay in completing a key statutory function such as this is an important finding. It is a finding that the Council has taken seriously.

Key Themes

21. The Council said its systems did not allow for accurate data collection. It said it received a low number of complaints about EHC Plan delay. Therefore, it thought the scale of the problem was far less. However, it did not have an accurate way to evidence this.
22. Following our formal enquiries into the issue, it started to carry out checks of historical data. This was to compare the way it previously collected information with the changes it intended to make.
23. Some of the delays related to an issue with recording information. It was identified that some case officers were not accurately updating children’s information in Council systems. This highlighted a data management issue and training need for its front-line staff.
24. Recruitment and staffing were highlighted as contributing factors. Recruitment of the necessary staff has started to take place. The Council is confident that this will impact the delay positively moving forward.
25. A more thorough approach to quality monitoring has been introduced. Dedicated resources have been appointed to ensure oversight of annual reviews for certain groups of children and young people, for example children receiving education other than at school.
26. Work is underway with schools and education settings to improve the through flow of information that contributes to annual reviews and the documentation that should be used to ensure thorough, and complete reviews take place.

Action Plan

27. The Council acknowledged its responsibility to fulfil its statutory duty to review EHC Plans annually. It said it was aware of the impact of its failings on children, young people and their families.
28. Delay in fulfilling its duty to carry out EHC Plan annual reviews has been highlighted as a priority in the Council’s special educational needs (SEND) Improvement Plan. The Councils special educational needs (SEND) strategic partnership board will ensure oversight of the Improvement Plan.
29. A post for an Annual Review Officer has been created. The Council said this post will continue to focus on working with education settings to ensure proper completion of annual reviews, to the required standard, and in a timely manner. The Council said the training has been well received so far.
30. Direct work with education settings has already begun. The Council has simplified the process for schools to submit information. It is currently reviewing the annual review template documents.
31. Monitoring of performance of staff is a key priority, as is staff retention.
32. The Council will meet with parents and carers in the autumn term to acknowledge the delay and explain the action it is taking, and intends to take, to resolve the issue.
33. The response to my formal enquiries showed the Councils commitment to addressing the issues identified about delay. It was a thorough response that included both operational and strategic change. The Ombudsman welcomed the response and learning about the work the Council is already doing to address the issue.
34. A period of further implementation will now take place as the Council works towards fulfilling the remainder of the action plan. We will monitor the actions of the Council, over the forthcoming 12-24 months to consider the plans impact.

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Action

35. To remedy the injustice identified to children and young people, through failure to carry out EHC Plan annual reviews in a timely manner, the Council has agreed to:
• implement the action plan, as detailed in its formal enquiry response to the Ombudsman, to address the issue of delay.
36. We request the Council provides 6 monthly updates on progress against the action plan to the appropriate scrutiny committee. This should take place over, at least, a 24-month period. The changes required will take time to implement. The success of the action plan will take time to evaluate. It should also provide updates on its website at 6-month intervals to enable those waiting for annual reviews to monitor the progress being made to address the delays.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions for the first 6-month period and continue to implement agreed recommendations thereafter.

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Decision

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

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman