Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to complete her child’s 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. This caused Miss X distress and frustration and significantly delayed her appeal rights. The Council has apologised, made a symbolic payment and completed service improvements to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council delayed in issuing a final Education, Health and Care Plan for her child, Y, following an Education, Health and Care needs assessment in December 2023. Miss X also complained the Council failed to ensure the Education, Health and Care Plan reflected professional advice and that the Councils communication during the process was poor. Miss X told us Y missed out on vital therapies and does not have the support she needs to access education. Miss X also told us the delay has caused stress and anxiety and she has had to fund private speech and language sessions. Miss X would like the Council to make a further financial payment, amend the Education, Health and Care Plan and review its SEND procedures.

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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 the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.
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)
6. 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

7. I have not investigated the part of Miss X’s complaint which relates to the content of Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because Miss X had a right to appeal the content of the Plan to the Tribunal. Miss X used this right of appeal.
8. I have investigated the delays in the Council issuing the final Education, Health and Care Plan and the Council’s communication with Miss X during this time.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Miss 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

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. 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);  
• Councils must give the child’s parent or the young person 15 days to comment on a draft EHC Plan and express a preference for an educational placement.
   

What happened

13. The Council received a request for an assessment of Y’s Education, Health and Care needs in December 2023. In accordance with statutory timeframes, the Council should have completed each step within the following deadlines:
• Decision to assess by the end of January 2024.
• Decision to issue a Plan by the third week of March 2024.
• Final Plan by the end of April 2024.
14. The Council issued its decision to assess letter at the end of April 2024. This is a delay of approximately four months.
15. In response to our enquiries the Council told us this delay was caused by the allocated caseworker failing to follow the correct process to put the request to panel for a decision.
16. The Council issued its decision to issue a Plan at the end of October 2024. This is a delay of approximately six months.
17. In response to our enquiries the Council told us this delay was due to a significant backlog in meeting statutory deadlines for children whose EHC needs assessment requests were made during early years education.
18. The Council issued the final Plan at the end of June 2025. This is a delay of approximately fourteen months.
19. The Council told us it was ready to issue the final Plan in December 2024, however it was waiting for the parents’ response to the draft Plan which was issued at the beginning of December 2024.
20. In response to complaints submitted by Miss X, the Council recognised its communication during the process had been poor. This included missed emails and meetings.

My findings

21. The Council failed to complete the EHC needs assessment process within the statutory timeframes. There was a delay of approximately fourteen months. This delay is fault which caused Miss X distress, frustration and uncertainty. The delay also significantly frustrated Miss X’s right to appeal.
22. In recognition of the delay, the Council has made a symbolic payment of £1400 to Miss X. This is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.
23. The Council has also made the following service improvements:
• Fortnightly casework supervision with all senior caseworkers by a Senior Casework Advisor. Any concerns around the EHC needs assessment process, either in individual cases or more broadly, are escalated to the SEN Operational Manager.
• A Multi-Agency service manager will complete weekly compliance meetings during which EHCNA data is scrutinised and delays are addressed.
• SEN Team restructures to address the accelerating need for demand in early years EHC needs assessment requests.
24. The Council’s ongoing service improvements are suitable and proportionate the remedy the EHC needs assessment delays highlighted in this case. For this reason, I have not made any further service improvement recommendations.
25. The Council has recognised its communication with Miss X during the EHC needs assessment process was not to the standard it expects to provide. This is fault which caused Miss X distress and frustration.
26. The Council offered an additional £300 symbolic payment in recognition of the distress caused by the poor service Miss X received. This is a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.

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Decision

27. 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