Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to complete an Education, Health and Care needs assessment within statutory timeframes. We find the Council at fault for a delay in completing the Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The delay is fault which caused Mr X and his family distress, frustration and uncertainty and frustrated their right to appeal. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to adhere to the statutory timeframe for completing an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for his child. Mr X told us the delay has left his child with no structured support, and he is at risk of being placed in an unsuitable school, which puts him at risk of long term harm. Mr X would like the Council to apologise, prioritise his son’s assessment, provide interim speech and language therapy and a full-time support worker.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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

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

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What I found

Legal and administrative background

7. 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. 
8. 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: 

• Where the council receives a request for an EHC needs assessment it must decide whether to agree to the assessment and send its decision to the parent of the child or the young person within six weeks. 
• 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)

What happened

9. Mr X wrote to the Council in November 2024 to request an assessment of his child’s Education, Health and Care needs. The Council agreed to carry out the assessment.
10. In accordance with the statutory timeframes, the Council should have completed the assessment and issued a final EHC Plan no later than the first week of April 2025.
11. The Council did not issue a final EHC Plan until January 2026. This is a delay of approximately 9 months. The delay is fault which caused distress, frustration and uncertainty for Mr X and his family.
12. In its correspondence with Mr X, the Council explained the delay in completing the EHC needs assessment was due a significant increase in the number of assessment requests received by the Council impacting the availability of the educational psychology team.
13. The Council has acknowledged it is not currently meeting the statutory timeframe for completing Education, Health and Care needs assessments. As of February 2026, the Council has an improvement plan in place to address the issues which are causing the delays. For this reason, I have not made any further service improvements.

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Action

14. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
• Apologise to Mr X for the injustice caused by the delay in issuing the final Education, Health and Care Plan. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making its apology.
• Make a symbolic payment of £900 in recognition of the injustice caused by the delay in issuing the final Education, Health and Care Plan.
15. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

16. 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