Summary: The Council was at fault for delay reviewing Mrs X’s child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This caused Mrs X frustration, for which the Council will make a symbolic payment. The Council has already apologised to Mrs X and taken suitable action to prevent similar fault in future.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to review or amend her child, W’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan between May 2023 and August 2025. Mrs X said the unsuitable provision in the Plan meant she ultimately had to decide to home educate W. Mrs X also complained the Council failed to send her information on elective home education when she asked for it.
2. Mrs X said the Council’s failings affected W’s wellbeing and caused her and her husband, Mr X, significant emotional, financial and practical strain.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. 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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What I have and have not investigated

6. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in September 2025 about matters dating back to May 2023. However, 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)
7. The period May 2023 to August 2024 is late, and I have seen no good reason why Mrs X did not complain sooner. Therefore, I cannot investigate that period.
8. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. For that reason, we normally end our investigations at the date the organisation issued its final response to a person’s complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
9. The Council sent Mrs X its final response to her complaint in August 2025 so I have investigated the period September 2024 to August 2025.
10. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decided any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
11. I have not investigated Mrs X’s complaint that the Council did not send her information on elective home education when she asked for it. This is because the Council has information available to the public on its website and because ultimately, Mrs X was able to begin home education without receiving any direct information from the Council. Therefore, any fault did not cause her a significant personal injustice.

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How I considered this complaint

12. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance and our guidance on remedies published on our website.
13. Mrs 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

Relevant law and guidance

14. 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. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the SEND Tribunal (see below) or the council can do this. 
15. The EHC Plan is set out in sections which include: 

• Section B: Special educational needs.  
• Section F: The special educational provision needed by the child or the young person. 
• Section I: The name and/or type of educational placement.

16. Councils must review a child’s EHC Plan 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. If a child is attending school, that school normally holds the meeting on the council’s behalf. The process is only complete when the council issues its decision to amend, maintain or cease to maintain 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) 
17. Where the council proposes to amend an EHC Plan, the law says it must send the child’s parent or the young person a copy of the existing (non-amended) Plan and an accompanying notice providing details of the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence to support the proposed changes. (Section 22(2) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.194). Case law sets out this should happen within four weeks of the date of the review meeting. Case law also found councils must issue the final amended EHC Plan within a further eight weeks.
18. Parents have a right to appeal certain decisions the council made on their child’s EHC Plan. This includes:
• The description of the child’s needs (section B);
• The special educational provision in the Plan (section F);
• The educational placement the child will attend (section I); and
• Amendments to those elements of the child’s EHC Plan.
19. Appeals are made to the SEND Tribunal, which is independent of councils. If a parent wants to appeal sections B, F or I of their child’s EHC Plan, they cannot do so until they receive a final or final amended EHC Plan.

Elective home education

20. Parents have a right to educate their children at home (Section 7, Education Act 1996). The term elective home education is used when a parent chooses to provide education for their children at home, instead of sending them to school full-time.
21. The council has a duty to make sure the child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of their EHC Plan (Section 42 Children and Families Act). However, this duty does not apply when the child is electively home educated.

What happened

22. This section sets out the key events in this case and is not intended to be a detailed chronology.

Background

23. W moved into the Council’s area in June 2023 and began attending school there. The Council took over responsibility for W’s current EHC Plan in May 2023, shortly before they moved. That EHC Plan dated from 2022. The Council did not review W’s EHC Plan in 2023.
24. In early March 2024, the Council began the annual review process but did not finish it.

September 2024 to August 2025

25. In late March 2025 W’s school held an annual review meeting.
26. Y’s mother, Mrs X began home educating W in May 2025. Mrs X told the Ombudsman she felt the Council’s failure to review and amend W’s EHC Plan to include suitable provision between 2023 and 2025 meant she had no choice but to begin elective home education.
27. The Council issued its decision to amend W’s EHC Plan in late June 2025 and issued their final amended Plan in late August. It named W’s school in section I and included significant new special educational provision relating to W’s need for support communicating, processing information, managing their emotions and sensory input.
28. Mrs X appealed the Plan to the SEND Tribunal. She appealed sections B (the child’s special educational needs), F (their special educational provision) and I (the placement or type of placement the child will attend).
29. Mrs X was unhappy with the Council’s actions and made a complaint. In response to that complaint, the Council said:
• It accepted it delayed carrying out W’s 2025 annual review, and it apologised for this;
• The delay occurred because of human error. W’s caseworker had not accessed the part of its computer system which would have highlighted the annual review was incomplete;
• The annual review also took longer than it should have done because caseworker supervisions were reliant primarily on the caseworker’s summary of a case. This meant the supervisor was also unaware the review was outstanding; and
• To prevent similar fault in future, supervisors now verified where a case was at as part of supervisions. The Council said its annual review team now sent regular updates to caseworkers and supervisors, highlighting which child had an upcoming review. The Council said it had also appointed a senior supervisor to oversee annual reviews and had highlighted W’s case to staff.

Findings

30. We expect councils to follow statutory timescales set out in law, Regulations and Code. We are likely to find fault where there are significant breaches of those timescales.
31. Had the Council completed W’s 2024 annual review, it should have done so by early April 2024. This means the Council should have completed the 2025 annual review by early April 2025. The Council did not finish that review until late June, nine weeks late. This delay was fault. The Council then took eight weeks to issue W’s amended EHC Plan following the annual review, which was within the statutory timescale.
32. The delay carrying out the annual review caused Mrs X frustration and delayed her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. But for the delay, the Council would have issued W’s final amended EHC Plan in early June. The amended EHC Plan contained significant new provision, but by early June, Mrs X had begun home educating W. The Council does not have to secure the special educational provision in a child’s EHC Plan when they are being home educated. Therefore, the Council’s delay did not result in W missing out on the additional provision in their EHC Plan.
33. Mrs X says she was forced to home educate W because the Council’s failure to review their EHC Plan in 2023 and 2024. However, as set out above, I have not investigated that period. In any event, even if I did investigate that period, it would be highly unlikely that I could say, even on balance, that the 2023 or 2024 annual reviews would have resulted in amended EHC Plans, what those Plans would have looked like, or whether they would helped W stay in school.
34. The Council has apologised to Mrs X for the delay carrying out the 2025 annual review, but that does not provide a complete remedy for the frustration Mrs X felt because of the fault. I have therefore recommended a symbolic payment below, in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies. The Council has taken appropriate action to prevent similar fault in future, so I have not recommended it take further action.

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Action

35. Within one month of the date of my final decision, the Council will pay Mrs X £225 to recognise the frustration she felt because of its delay reviewing W’s EHC Plan and her delayed appeal rights to the SEND Tribunal.
36. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above action.

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Decision

37. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed an action to remedy that injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman