Summary: We have upheld this complaint about delays in the Education, Health and Care plan process. This is because the Council has accepted fault and offered an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay. There are no public interest issues remaining to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about delay in the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process. Mrs X says the Council failed to meet the relevant timescales in the SEN Code of Practice.
2. Mrs X also complained about delays in the Council’s complaint handling process.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. Service failure can happen when an organisation fails to provide a service as it should have done because of circumstances outside its control. We do not need to show any blame, intent, flawed policy or process, or bad faith by an organisation to say service failure (fault) has occurred. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1), as amended)
4. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), 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 considered information provided by Mrs X.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. In September 2024 Mrs X asked the Council to assess her child for an EHC Plan, to which the Council agreed in January 2025. According to the SEN Code of Practice, the EHC Plan should have been finalised 20 weeks after the initial request. The Council says this should have been in April 2025. By October 2025 the EHC Plan process was still ongoing.
9. In reply to Mrs X’s complaint the Council accepted it has taken longer than it should to complete the process due to a shortage of educational psychologists. This is service failure.
10. The Council offered to pay Mrs X £100 per month for the delay, as remedy. It said it would pay £500 for the delay up to October 2025 and £100 per months delay thereafter.
11. The Council previously assured the Ombudsman of its intended actions to address delays in the EHC Plan process. And we agreed we are satisfied the Council has a plan to address this issue.
12. The Council has agreed a suitable remedy and is taking to steps to address the issue at the heart of this complaint. Therefore, we will not therefore investigate.
13. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we decide not to investigate the substantive issue.

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Final decision

14. We uphold Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has accepted fault and offered a suitable remedy for the identified injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman