Staffordshire County Council (25 014 073)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 29 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not dealing with Mrs X’s complaint about delay in issuing an Education Health and Care Plan for her child. Since Mrs X complained to us, the Council has issued a final Plan and paid her £600 for the delay in doing so in accordance with what it agreed in complaint 25 008 964. Investigation would not now achieve any worthwhile purpose.
The complaint
- Mrs X says the Council failed even to acknowledge her complaint about delay in issuing an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan for her child. She wanted the Council to issue the overdue Plan as soon as possible.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council took too long to issue an EHC Plan for Mrs X’s child. In complaint 25 008 964, we found fault and asked the Council to pay Mrs X £300 for the delay to date, and a further £100 per month until it issued the final Plan.
- Mrs X then complained again the Council had still not issued the final Plan or dealt with her complaint. She said she just wanted it to issue the Plan. However, both the Council and Mrs X have now confirmed the final Plan was issued on 24 February 2026. She told me the Council paid £600, which was in line with our recommendations in complaint 25 008 964.
- In view of that, it has become clear that no useful purpose would be served by further investigating the delay or the Council’s complaint handling.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has now issued the final EHC Plan and paid Mrs X an amount in line with our recommendation in complaint 25 008 964. No useful purpose would be served by our further involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman