Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Education, Health and Care plan process. This is because the Council has agreed to an appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by the delay.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about delay in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) process. Mrs X says the Council failed to meet the relevant timescales in the SEN Code of Practice. Mrs X says the delay has left her child (Y) without appropriate support.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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.
6. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
7. 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

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Mrs X asked the Council to assess her child for an EHC Plan on 29 January 2025. The Council agreed to issue an EHC Plan and should have done so by 18 June 2025 – week 20 of the process. The Council eventually issued the final EHC Plan on 02 March 2026 – eight and a half months late.
11. The Council has accepted it has taken longer than it should to complete the process due to a shortage of Educational Psychologists. This is service failure. This has caused Mrs X frustration and distress. The Council offered Mrs X a £500 remedy.
12. The Council has previously assured the Ombudsman of the actions it is taking to address delays in the EHC Plan process. We are therefore satisfied the Council has a plan to address this issue.
13. In cases like this we consider a payment of £100 to be a suitable remedy for each month of delay. The Council has already offered £500 which covers five months of delay. We therefore asked it to remedy the remaining injustice by making an extra payment to Mrs X of £350 to resolve the complaint early. This remedies the remaining three and a half months of delay. The Council has agreed to our invitation, and it should make the payment within four weeks of this decision.
14. Mrs X says the delay by the Council meant her child missed out on appropriate support. We cannot say what provision would have been included in the EHC Plan were it not for the delay. We would also expect the completed plan to reflect Y’s needs at the time they were assessed by an Educational Psychologist and to take into account the impact of any delay. If Mrs X thinks the plan does not reflect Y’s needs, then it is reasonable for her to appeal to the Tribunal. We also have no powers to consider complaints about what happens in schools. Until the EHC Plan was issued responsibility for supporting Y rested with their school and we cannot consider their actions.
15. The Council has agreed a suitable remedy and is taking to steps to address the issue at the heart of this complaint. We will not therefore investigate.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Council has offered a suitable remedy for the identified injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman