Summary: Mr X complains about delays by the Council in assessing his child (Y’s) special educational needs and issuing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. He says this has affected Y’s education and impacted the family’s mental health. There was fault in the way the Council delayed completing the EHC needs assessment and it still has not issued a final EHC Plan. This has caused significant distress and uncertainty for Mr X and Y has missed education. The Council has agreed to issue a final EHC Plan and make symbolic payments to remedy this injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about delay in the Education and Health Care (EHC) Plan process for their child (Y). Mr X says the Council has failed to issue a final Plan within statutory timescales.
2. Mr X says Y has been out of school and this has impacted the family’s mental health. Mr X wants the Council to issue a final EHC Plan.

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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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How I considered this complaint

6. I read Mr X’s complaint and spoke to him about it on the phone.
7. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. 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 have not investigated

9. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
10. In his complaint to us Mr X raised concerns about Y still not having access to suitable education. Mr X complained to us in September 2025, and it appears this injustice may be ongoing to date and therefore the Council will need an opportunity to investigate and respond to these concerns. It is open to Mr X to make a new complaint to the Council about concerns from November 2025 onwards, after the Council agreed to provide alternative provision.

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What I found

Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan

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 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.
13. As part of the assessment, councils must gather advice from relevant professionals (SEND Regulation 6(1)). This includes:
• the child's educational placement;
• medical advice and information from health care professionals involved with the child;
• psychological advice and information from an Educational Psychologist (EP);
• social care advice and information;
• advice and information from any person requested by the parent or young person, where the council considers it reasonable; and
• any other advice and information the council considers appropriate for a satisfactory assessment.
14. Those consulted have a maximum of six weeks to provide the advice.

Alternative provision

15. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 says that councils must arrange suitable alternative educational provision when it finds that a child is unable to attend school because of a permanent exclusion, an illness, or for any other reason which make the school inaccessible to the child. The alternative educational provision must be suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude, and any special educational needs they have.
16. If a council discovers a child is absent from school for an extended period, it should consider the reasons for this and take account of evidence from relevant parties (such as the child’s school, parents, and medical professionals). It must then decide whether it has a duty to make alternative educational provision.
17. Councils should consider any attempts the school is making to support the child. This might involve sending work home for the child to complete, arranging disability related support, placing the child on a reduced timetable, or providing online education as a short-term measure. If there is a clear, effective, and time-bound plan for reintegration then there may be no immediate role for the council in providing alternative education.
18. If the council decides it must arrange alternative provision, it needs to arrange provision based on the child’s individual needs. It should also have a review process to ensure the provision remains in the child’s best interests. Councils can decide a child cannot cope with full-time provision, especially where the reason for their non-attendance is medical. When this happens, the Council should provide reasons for the amount of provision it arranges.
19. Councils should also think about the steps needed to reintegrate the child back into their usual school setting, through ongoing conversations with relevant professionals and the parents.
20. Where councils arrange for schools or other bodies to carry out their functions on their behalf, the council remains responsible. Therefore, councils should retain oversight and control to ensure their duties are properly fulfilled.

What happened

21. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
22. Y has additional needs. Y’s school applied for an EHC Plan in December 2024. It said Y’s attendance was at 59%. Y was aged 14 at the time.
23. The Council agreed to complete an EHC needs assessment in January 2025. The Council asked professionals to provide information within six weeks.
24. The Educational Psychologist (EP) provided the report in July 2025. The Council agreed to issue an EHC Plan.
25. On 20 July, Mr X contacted the Council stating it had breached statutory deadlines for issuing a final Plan. Mr X explained Y was not receiving the correct level of education support and was due to enter Year 11 in September 2025. Mr X said the delay was unacceptable and having a detrimental impact on Y’s education and wellbeing. Mr X requested an update on the status of the Plan; timeline for completion of the final Plan and a list of specialist settings that could meet Y’s needs, with availability from September. Mr X asked the Council to acknowledge and respond to his email within five working days.
26. On 25 July, Mr X chased the Council for a response to his email.
27. Mr X complained to the Council in August. He said the Council had failed to respond to his recent emails and issue a final EHC Plan for Y, within statutory deadlines. He repeated his request for an update and list of specialist settings suitable for Y.
28. Y’s school submitted a section 19 referral on 26 August. The Council declined the application due to missing information on the form.
29. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in September. The Council apologised for the delay and said this was due to late responses to request for advice and capacity within the team to complete the draft Plan. The Council explained it could not give Mr X a definitive date for issuing a final EHC Plan.
30. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman in September 2025.
31. In response to our enquiries the Council explained that a Team Around the Family (TAF) meeting was subsequently held in October and subsequently the school submitted a revised and completed section 19 referral. The panel considered the referral and on 11 November agreed provision to integrate Y back into school. Provision was agreed for Maths, English and Science.
32. The Council issued a draft EHC Plan on 21 November.

Analysis

EHC needs assessment delay

33. The Council received the request for the EHC needs assessment in mid-December 2024. If a council decides to issue an EHC Plan, it should do this within 20 weeks of a request. In this case, the Council should have done this by 3 May 2025.
34. The first two months of delay was due to the Council not receiving advice from an EP until July 2025. We recognise there is a national shortage of EPs affecting many areas. We describe this as fault in the form of service failure (see Paragraph 3).
35. After receiving this, we would expect the Council to follow statutory timescales in the Code to issue a final EHC Plan. This is usually up to eight weeks after the EP report which means it could have issued it by 11 September 2025. As of May 2026, the Council had still not issued a final EHC Plan. This is a significant and unacceptable delay. The Council explained that staffing pressures and delays from educational settings in returning consultation responses have contributed towards the delay.
36. The fault has caused significant frustration and distress for Mr X and Y as they are having to wait considerably longer than necessary to receive a final EHC Plan. This has also delayed Mr X’s right to appeal, which is further injustice.
37. The Ombudsman’s guidance for remedying injustice caused by EP related delays suggests a financial remedy of £100 per month of delay. In Mr Y’s case, that equates to £200. The remaining ongoing delay is due to the Council’s own failures to progress the assessment and issue Y’s final EHC Plan. I make a further recommendation to pay £100 a month until the final Plan is eventually issued to a maximum of six months after our final decision. If the Council does not issue a final Plan within this six-month period, Mr X can raise a new complaint to the council and, if necessary, to us once he has completed the complaints procedure.

Alternative provision

38. I also consider there to be fault in the way the Council considered whether it had a section 19 duty to arrange alternative education.
39. The Council was aware that Y was not attending school full-time from the EHC needs assessment request made in mid-December 2025. There is no evidence the Council considered its Section 19 duty at the time around whether to put some alternative provision in place for Y while it completed the EHC needs assessment. This is fault. It left uncertainty around whether Y could have accessed more education from January 2025 had the Council maintained sufficient oversight. I cannot say whether the outcome would have been different but for the fault. However, it has caused Mr X undue frustration and uncertainty about what provision Y could have received between January 2025 and July 2025. I consider the Council should make a symbolic payment of £500 to remedy this injustice.
40. The Council received a referral for alternative provision in August 2025. It declined the application and instructed the school to submit a revised application, which it did in November. The Council failed to make further enquiries to establish whether it had a section 19 duty to arrange alternative education. This is fault. Instead, it waited for the school to submit a new application and subsequently agreed to provide alternative provision and informed the school. This meant that Y did not have access to the provision from the start of the school term in September.
41. As explained in paragraph 9, I have not investigated this part of Mr X’s complaint from November 2025 onwards.
42. Using the Ombudsman’s remedy tariff for significant delay affecting a child’s education (typically £900 to £2,400 per school term) I consider £900 is an appropriate remedy for missed provision between September and November 2025. In reaching this decision I have considered this was an important year for Y and provision had been agreed for three core subjects as well as integrating Y back into a school environment, however this was not implemented.

Communication

43. The Council’s communication with Mr X was poor and inconsistent. There is evidence of Mr X often chasing the Council for responses and emails were not responded to. This is fault. Mr X was already under significant pressure due to delay in the EHC process and its poor communication caused additional frustration and distress. I consider the recommendations below consider this injustice.
44. I would usually make service improvement recommendations in a case such as this, but I can see other Ombudsman investigations made these. The Council has explained following similar cases investigated by the Ombudsman the action it is taking to meet the demands in its SEND service and to reduce the backlog in the EHC needs assessment process. This includes ongoing recruitment of EPs and SEN case officers. It has also recently published a new Section 19 policy. I therefore have not recommended further service improvements. We continue to monitor the Council’s ongoing work to improve its services through our casework.

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Action

45. To remedy the injustice caused to Mr X by the faults I have identified, the Council will take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
1. apologise to Mr X for the faults identified in this statement.
2. issue a final EHC Plan within four weeks.
3. pay Mr X £200 to acknowledge the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused to him by the Council’s delay in deciding whether to issue Y with an EHC Plan caused by the delay in obtaining advice from an Educational Psychologist.
4. pay Mr X £100 a month from August 2025, until a final EHC Plan is eventually issued to a maximum of six months after our final decision. If the Council does not issue a final EHC Plan within this period, Mr X can complain to the Council again and, if necessary, to the Ombudsman once he has completed the Council’s complaints procedure.
5. pay Mr X for the benefit of Y, £500 to acknowledge the frustration and uncertainty caused by the Council’s failure to consider whether to put alternative provision in place for Y between January 2025 and July 2025.
6. pay Mr X for the benefit of Y, £900 for missed provision between September and November 2025.
7. once the final Plan is issued the Council should offer a remedy, in line with our Guidance on Remedies, for any provision Y would have had sooner but for the delay.

46. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

47. I find fault causing injustice to Mr X and Y and I have made recommendations to remedy this injustice. I have completed our investigation on this basis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman