Summary: Mrs X complained the Council failed to complete annual reviews of her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan and failed to provide her with relevant updates or documentation. Mrs X also complained about how the Council handled her complaint. She says the Council’s actions hindered her son’s progress and caused her considerable distress and anxiety. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to provide an apology and a financial remedy and produce an action plan to address how it will manage its backlog of annual reviews together with the ongoing demand for its service.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to complete annual reviews of her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan and failed to provide her with relevant updates or documentation dating back to 2023. Mrs X also complained about how the Council handled her complaint about this matter. She says the Council’s actions have hindered her son’s progress as his educational needs are not being met. Mrs X says the Council’s actions also caused her considerable distress and anxiety. She would like the Council to provide an apology and a financial remedy and review its processes to prevent the same thing happening again.
2. Mrs X submitted a new complaint regarding delays in the EHC Plan review process on 22 June 2026.

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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. 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 unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
6. 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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What I have and have not investigated

7. I have exercised discretion to investigate Mrs X’s complaint dating back to January 2024. I have not investigated the complaint prior to 2024 because there are no good reasons to investigate beyond this date.
8. I have not investigated the complaint referred to in paragraph two. This is because the Council has not yet had sufficient opportunity to investigate the new complaint and provide a response to Mrs X.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.
11. 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 found

Education, Health and Care Plans

12. A child or young person with special educational needs (SEN) may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them.
13. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding SEN. We refer to it as the Tribunal in this decision statement.
14. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about a child’s needs, education, or the name of the educational placement. Only the Tribunal or the council can do this. 
15. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against several council decisions regarding SEN, including:

• A council’s description of a child or young person’s SEN, the special educational provision specified, the school or placement or that no school or other placement is specified in their EHC Plan;
• A council’s amendment to these elements of an EHC Plan; and
• A decision not to amend an EHC Plan following a review or reassessment.

EHC Plan reviews

16. Councils 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.
17. Following the review meeting the council must issue a decision to either 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). 
18. If the council decides not to amend an EHC Plan or decides to cease to maintain it, it must inform the child’s parents or the young person of their right to appeal the decision to the tribunal.
19. Where the decision is to amend an EHC Plan, councils must notify the parent or young person of the decision to amend, and what the proposed changes are, within four weeks of the annual review meeting. The council must then issue any final amended Plan within eight weeks of the amendment notice. Therefore, councils must issue an amended final EHC Plan within 12 weeks of the review meeting.

What happened

20. This chronology includes key events in this case and does not cover everything that happened.
21. Mrs X attended an annual review of her son, Y’s EHC Plan on 22 February 2024.
22. Mrs X attended a further annual review of Y’s EHC Plan on 3 March 2025.
23. On 22 April 2025, Mrs X complained to the Council. She said the Council had failed to respond or provide any updates regarding its decisions relating to the last three annual reviews, dating back to 2023. Mrs X said the SEND regulations state a review of an EHC Plan is only complete when the local authority notifies the parent of its decision. Mrs X said the Council’s failure to provide timely updates negatively impacted Y’s ability to receive the required support, as well as frustrating her right to appeal to the Tribunal.
24. The Council acknowledged receipt of Mrs X’s complaint on the same day.
25. On 29 May 2025, Mrs X asked the Council to escalate her complaint to stage two as she had not received a response to her previous complaint.
26. The Council provided its complaint response on 30 May 2025. It said the Council had received Y’s annual review paperwork from February 2024 and had recommended that the EHC Plan should be maintained. The Council said it issued its decision letter to Mrs X and Y’s school on 9 March 2024.
27. Regarding the annual review held on 3 March 2025, the Council acknowledged it had not met the statutory timescale in providing its decision. The Council said it had experienced a significant restructure which had left a deficit of staff, but it had now recruited additional officers. The Council apologised for the delay regarding the EHC Plan review and for the delay in providing its complaint response. It told Mrs X that it had allocated an officer to Y’s case, and it expected to issue the EHC Plan by no later than 12 June 2025.
28. Mrs X submitted a stage two complaint on 4 June 2025. She acknowledged the Council’s apology but remained dissatisfied with the failure to respond to her initial complaint within the timeframe specified by the Council’s complaints policy. Mrs X also remained dissatisfied regarding the Council’s communication and said that neither she nor Y’s school had received the Council’s decisions following the annual reviews.
29. The Council provided its stage two response on 11 September 2025. The Council said it had not seen the files for Y’s 2023 and 2024 annual reviews so could not verify what information the school had received. However, it accepted Mrs Y’s account of her experience and considered it was likely that administrative oversights had occurred, given the service’s difficulties at the time.
30. Mrs X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and brought the complaint to the Ombudsman.

What happened next

31. On 9 March 2026, the Council issued its decision following the annual review held on 3 March 2025. The Council decided to amend Y’s EHC Plan.
32. The Council held a further annual review on 30 April 2026.
33. On 5 May 2026, the Council issued a final EHC Plan as a result of the annual review held on 3 March 2025.
34. Mrs X submitted a new complaint regarding delays in the EHC Plan review process on 22 June 2026.

Analysis – delays in the EHC Plan review process and failure to provide documentation

35. Following an annual review, councils must issue a decision to either amend, maintain or cease to maintain the EHC Plan within four weeks of the meeting. Mrs X complained the Council did not issue a decision letter following the annual reviews held on 22 February 2024 and 3 March 2025.
36. In its complaint response, the Council said it issued a decision letter to Mrs X and Y’s school on 9 April 2024. I acknowledge Mrs X’s comments that she did not receive this.
37. I have reviewed the Council’s records which include a copy of the Council’s letter dated 9 April 2024, and its contemporaneous case notes which state it issued the letter. The letter stated the Council had decided to maintain Y’s EHC Plan. Whilst I acknowledge Mrs X’s comments that she did not receive this letter, the evidence indicates the Council issued it. Therefore, I am unable to make a finding of fault regarding the Council’s failure to send notification of this decision.
38. However, the letter is dated 9 April 2024; this is more than four weeks after the annual review meeting held on 22 February 2024. This is outside the statutory timeframe specified in the SEND Code of Practice, and the Council is therefore at fault regarding the timing of the letter.
39. Regarding the annual review meeting held on 3 March 2025, the Council acknowledged it did not issue its decision letter within four weeks of the meeting. The Council upheld this aspect of Mrs X’s complaint as a result.
40. The Council issued its decision letter on 9 March 2026; this represents a significant delay of 49 weeks. This delay is fault.
41. In addition to the delay in issuing the amendment notice, the Council incurred delays in its issuance of the final EHC Plan, issued on 5 May 2026. This is also a delay of 49 weeks and is despite the Council’s previous assurance that it would issue the plan by 12 June 2025. This significant delay is also fault.
42. I acknowledge Mrs X’s comments regarding the injustice caused to both her and Y as a result of the above delays. As well as the avoidable stress, anxiety and uncertainty about what provision would be agreed, and what would happen regarding the Council’s planning for Y’s transition to adulthood and post-16 provision, Mrs X says the EHC Plan was not properly updated for several years. I acknowledge Mrs X’s comments that this caused a significant injustice to Y. Mrs X says Y’s EHC Plan remained outdated and did not accurately reflect his changing needs or the provision he required throughout a significant period of his secondary education.

Delays in the complaint handling process

43. In its response to our enquiries, the Council acknowledged several failures in its handling of Mrs X’s complaint. The Council acknowledged Mrs X’s stage one complaint within the timescale set out in its complaints procedure but did not provide a response within the required timeframe. The Council also did not provide acknowledgement of Mrs X’s stage two complaint, or a final response within the required timeframe.
44. Whilst it is positive the Council has itself identified the delays in its complaint handling and is taking measures to provide re-training to avoid recurrence, the delays incurred are fault. The injustice to Mrs X is the avoidable time and trouble brought about by chasing the Council for a response in the pursuance of her complaint. Mrs X says the Council’s handling of her complaint also caused her avoidable confusion.

The Council’s case notes

45. As part of the case notes stating the Council issued its decision letter to Mrs X on 9 April 2024, the Council recorded that a “maintain” letter was requested, and that the plan “will be amended next year”.
46. In its correspondence to the Ombudsman dated 2 March 2026, the Council said it “must first consider all recommendations arising from the Annual Review before making decisions on amendments, placements, or additional funding”.
47. I agree with the Council’s comments as set out in its email. However, the Council’s case note dated 9 April 2024 (as referenced in paragraph 44) indicates the Council may have considered making a decision to amend Y’s EHC Plan prior to the annual review due to be held in 2025. I am therefore critical of the Council’s case note, as to suggest the plan would require amending “next year” (in 2025), indicates potential decision-making without first considering all recommendations arising from the most recent and relevant annual review, (namely the review to be held in 2025). I acknowledge the Council subsequently decided to amend Y’s EHC Plan following the 2025 annual review, and also acknowledge this decision was made after the annual review took place.

Service improvements

48. When someone has suffered an injustice, we try to put them back in the position they would have been had that error not occurred. Our focus is on restoring services that have been denied and taking practical steps to put things right. Where that is not possible, we will try to think of remedies that acknowledge the impact of the fault identified.
49. When we decide an organisation needs to learn from this fault to prevent likely injustice to others in the future from similar fault, we can recommend actions it needs to take. We call this a service improvement.
50. I acknowledge the Council’s comments regarding the steps it has taken to improve its SEND service, specifically Growth Modelling and the implementation of an Annual Review Recovery Team to address the backlog of outstanding cases. The Council says it has a robust plan to improve timeliness and action all annual reviews by the end of October 2026.
51. However, the Council acknowledges that as of May 2026, there were a high number of annual review cases that still required a response. The Council states it is operating a short-term project to fully recover timeliness by the end of October 2026, but it acknowledges there is a potential risk to this plan as it employs a number of agency staff within the Recovery Team who could choose to leave with very short notice. Whilst I acknowledge the steps taken by the Council to date, I have made a service improvement recommendation, as stated in the following section.

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Action

52. To address the injustice identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within one month of the final decision:
1. Provide an apology to Mrs X for the fault identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings;
2. Make a symbolic payment of £500 to Mrs X in recognition of the stress, anxiety and uncertainty caused. This amount takes into account the length of the delays identified and is in accordance with our published Guidance on Remedies, and
3. Make a further symbolic payment of £250 to Mrs X in recognition of the time and trouble caused in pursuing her complaint.
53. The Council has also agreed to take the following additional action within three months of the final decision:
1. Produce an action plan to set out how the Council will address the backlog of outstanding Education, Health and Care Plan reviews in addition to managing the ongoing/future demand for this service.
54. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

55. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed to take the above recommended actions to remedy the injustice identified and I have therefore concluded my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman