Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. Part of the complaint is late, and it was reasonable for Mrs X to complain sooner. It was reasonable for Mrs X to use her right of appeal if she wanted to challenge the content of her child’s current plan.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the Council’s handling of her child’s (Y) Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mrs X says the Council failed to finalise plans following annual reviews. Mrs X is unhappy with the content of her child’s current EHC Plan.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
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.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. In response to Mrs X’s complaints, the Council accepted it failed to finalise Y’s EHC Plans following annual reviews in May 2022, March 2023 and March 2024. It has apologised for this and offered a total remedy of £1300. It reviewed Y’s EHC Plan in June 2025 and finalised the plan in July.
8. We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint. The reasons for this are below.
9. Firstly, we expect people to complain to us within 12 months of them becoming aware of a problem. Mrs X’s complaint about the reviews from 2022 to 2024 is therefore late. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. Mrs X could have complained to us earlier about this issue.
10. Turning to the remainder of the complaint, Mrs X is unhappy with the content of Y’s latest plan and how this was decided. Parents who want to challenge the content of an EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. We expect parents to use this right unless it is not reasonable for them to do so. The Tribunal can order councils to change EHC Plans; we cannot. It was therefore reasonable for Mrs X to use her right of appeal and so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because some of it is late and it was reasonable for Mrs X to use her right of appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman