Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in carrying out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons why the complainant could not have complained sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council:
• Delayed her son, C’s, Educational Health and Care Needs Assessment,
• Failed to provide C with the support he needed in the plan,
• Failed to appropriately amend the plan when it was reviewed, and
• Failed to include post-16 transition preparation in the plan.
2. She says this impacted C’s mental health and his educational success. She says it has caused her stress and a deterioration of her own health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council began carrying out a needs assessment for C in 2022. Mrs X complains the assessment took longer than the statutory time frames and the plan produced did not meet her son’s needs. She started mediation with the Council. The Council carried out a review in 2023 and issued a new Education Health and Care (EHC) plan for C in 2024. Mrs X complains the new plan did not make the necessary amendments discussed and did not include any transition planning.
9. We will not investigate Mrs X complaints because these concerns happened more than 12 months before her complaint to the Ombudsman and is therefore late. I have not seen good reason why Mrs X could not have complaint to us before and so we will not investigate.
10. Even if Mrs X’s complaints were not considered late, we would not be able to investigate complaints about the lack of special educational provision detailed in C’s EHC plan as this is the role of the tribunal.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman