Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about delays holding an Education, Health and Care plan annual review and poor communication. The Council has upheld her complaint and offered a suitable remedy. It is unlikely an investigation would add to the Council’s response or reach a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council did not hold an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan annual review for her child, Y, between June 2023 and November 2025. She also complains about poor communication and says this caused her child to miss the deadline to apply for a supported internship. She wants the Council to acknowledge its failings, update the EHC plan, find Y a suitable educational placement and offer a suitable financial remedy for Y’s lost education and the distress caused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In its complaint responses the Council upheld her complaint. It accepted that:
• it had not held an EHC plan annual review for Y since 2023,
• it had not acted to find a suitable alternative placement when their placement broke down in September 2025, and
• wording it its communication related to supported internships lacked clarity regarding cohort enrolment dates and had caused Ms X confusion.
6. It apologised to her for these faults. It said it would arrange an annual review for Y within four weeks and would work to secure suitable educational provision for Y until they could enrol on the supported internship programme. It offered Ms X £600 in recognition of the distress and uncertainty caused by the missed annual reviews.
7. It also set out actions it would take (or had already taken) to improve its service. This included a new casework system to alert caseworkers as to when annual reviews were due, creation of a new team to specifically work with post-16 students, a reminder for staff regarding EHC annual review timescales and a review of the internship team’s communications to ensure enrolment points were made clear to potential applicants.
8. We will not investigate this complaint as we could not add to the Council’s response. The Council has provided a suitable remedy for the injustice caused which is in line with our guidance on remedies. It has also acted to improve its service moving forward. It is unlikely an investigation could add to this response or that it would lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is unlikely that we could add to the Council’s response or reach a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman