Summary: The Council delayed issuing Y’s final Education, Health and Care Plan by 10 weeks. The Council has agreed to apologise for the frustration and uncertainty this caused Miss X. We cannot investigate whether Y missed out on any Special Educational Needs provision as Miss X had a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council delayed issuing a final Education, Health and Care Plan for her child, Y, and failed to communicate properly when assessing Y for that Plan. Miss X says this meant Y missed out on the special educational provision they were entitled to and she had to give up her job to care for Y. She wants the Council to review its practices.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)
4. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

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

Miss X’s right of appeal to the Tribunal

6. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. 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.
8. Miss X had a right of appeal over the fact the Council did not name a specific school in Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in May 2025. I cannot investigate her complaint that the Council did not provide the special educational provision set out in section F of Y’s EHC Plan. This is because Y’s provision was dependent on them attending a school setting – the lack of which was a matter that Miss X could have appealed to the Tribunal about. Therefore, as I consider it is too closely connected to her appeal, I cannot investigate it.
9. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. This is called our general discretion. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) The courts have said we must not overlap with matters that have or could have been raised with the tribunal (R v Local Commissioner for Administration for the North and East Area of England, ex parte Bradford MBC [1979]). Therefore, even if we had jurisdiction to investigate any part of Miss X’s complaint that the Council failed to make the full provision specified in Y’s EHC Plan, we would not do so because it might overlap with the matter which could have been appealed to the Tribunal.

Late complaints

10. 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)
11. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman in October 2025 about its handling of Y’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment and Plan. Before this Miss X had also complained to the Council about Y’s support at nursery. I have not investigated this aspect of Miss X’s complaint as she could have complained to us sooner about Y’s nursery support. I have investigated events from October 2024, when Miss X asked the Council to assess Y for EHC Plan, to August 2025, when Miss X moved to another council area.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

12. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
13. Miss X and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans

14. 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 the council can do this. 
15. 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 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.

16. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against 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.

What happened

17. Miss X requested an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment of Y on 6 October 2024. The Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y on 7 May 2025. The Council did not name a specific school in the final EHC Plan, but said Y would attend a mainstream primary setting from September 2025. The provision in the EHC Plan was all linked to delivery within a school environment, including:
• An adapted curriculum
• 1:1 adult support and intervention
• Targeted literacy and numeracy
• School staff working with a Speech and Language Therapist.
18. The cover letter for the EHC Plan gave Miss X details of her right of appeal to the Tribunal.
19. Miss X complained to the Council in July 2025. She said it had taken too long to issue Y’s final EHC Plan and it had failed to name a suitable school. She said she was planning to move to a new area and the Council was consulting with schools that Y would not live near.
20. Miss X asked the Council to name the school where she worked on Y’s EHC Plan. The Council consulted with the school, but it said it could not meet Y’s needs with the proposed level of funding.
21. Miss X moved to a new council area in August 2025. Shortly after, the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint. It said it had consulted with Miss X’s preferred school, but it could not meet Y’s needs. It said Miss X had a right of appeal to the Tribunal over Y’s EHC Plan. It said it was now the responsibility of Y’s new council to continue consulting over schools for Y. Miss X remained unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman.

My findings

22. We expect councils to follow the statutory timescales set out in the law and the Code. We are likely to find fault where there are significant breaches of those timescales. Having agreed to assess Y and then issue an EHC Plan the Council should have issued the final EHC Plan within 20 weeks. This was by 23 February 2025. The Council issued Y’s EHC Plan on 7 May 2025; a delay of 10 weeks. This was fault.
23. The delay in the EHC assessment caused Miss X uncertainty and frustration while she awaited Y’s final EHC plan. However, I cannot say this resulted in Y missing out on the Special Educational Provision in the EHC Plan. As explained in paragraphs six to nine above, Y’s provision was dependent on them attending a school setting. Miss X had a right of appeal over the setting named in Y's EHC Plan. I cannot investigate this aspect of Miss X’s complaint as she had a right of appeal to the Tribunal.

Back to top

Action

24. Within a month of the final decision the Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X for uncertainty and frustration caused by the delay issuing Y’s final EHC Plan.
25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

26. I find fault causing injustice which the Council has agreed to remedy

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman