Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council handled her daughter, Y’s education. The Council delayed in reviewing Y’s education, health and care plan and failed to provide agreed occupational therapy provision. This caused Miss X and Y frustration and uncertainty. The Council should apologise and make payments to recognise the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the way the Council handled her daughter, Y’s education. She says the Council:
1. delayed in completing Y’s education, health and care plan annual review in April 2025; and
2. failed to provide an occupational therapist, which is part of her section F provision.
2. Miss X says this has caused her and her daughter significant stress and anxiety. She says the uncertainty and lack of support has been overwhelming and exhausting.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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 evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Miss X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Legislation and guidance

EHC plan 

8. 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. 

Content of an EHC Plan

9. The EHC Plan is set out in sections which includes section F: The special educational provision needed by the child or the young person. 

Maintaining the EHC Plan

10. The council has a duty to make sure the child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of an EHC Plan (Section 42 Children and Families Act). The Courts have said the duty to arrange this provision is owed personally to the child and is non-delegable. This means if the council asks another organisation to make the provision and that organisation fails to do so, the council remains liable (R v London Borough of Harrow ex parte M [1997] ELR 62), (R v North Tyneside Borough Council [2010] EWCA Civ 135)  

Reviewing EHC Plans

11. The council must arrange for the EHC Plan to be reviewed at least once a year to make sure it is up to date. The council must complete the review within 12 months of the first EHC Plan and within 12 months of any later reviews. The annual review begins with consulting the child’s parents or the young person and the educational placement. A review meeting must then take place. Following the review meeting the council must issue a decision to either amend, maintain or cease to maintain the EHC Plan. This must happen within four weeks of the meeting. (Section 20(10) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.176) 
12. If the council decides not to amend an EHC Plan or decides to cease to maintain it, it must inform the child’s parents or the young person of their right to appeal the decision to the tribunal.
13. Where the council proposes to amend an EHC Plan, the law says it must send the child’s parent or the young person a copy of the existing (non-amended) Plan and an accompanying notice providing details of the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence to support the proposed changes. (Section 22(2) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.194). Case law sets out this should happen within four weeks of the date of the review meeting. Case law also found councils must issue the final amended EHC Plan within a further eight weeks.
14. If the child’s parents or the young person disagrees with the decision to cease the EHC Plan, the council must continue to maintain the EHC Plan until the time has passed for bringing an appeal, or when an appeal has been registered, until it is concluded.

Appeal rights

15. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against a council’s:

• decision not to carry out an EHC needs assessment or reassessment;
• decision that it is not necessary to issue a EHC Plan following an assessment;
• 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;
• amendment to these elements of an EHC Plan;
• decision not to amend an EHC Plan following a review or reassessment; and
• decision to cease to maintain an EHC Plan.

What happened?

16. Y is a child with an EHC Plan.
17. The Council held Y’s annual review meeting in mid-April 2025.
18. Miss X complained to the Council in early July that it failed to update Y’s EHC Plan by the deadline of mid-May 2025.
19. The Council responded to her complaint the following month. It accepted that it had delayed in making the decision whether to amend or maintain Y’s EHC Plan and apologised for this. The Council explained this was because it was waiting for an educational psychology updated report to include in the review.
20. The Council sent a decision letter to Miss X in mid-July confirming that it would not amend Y’s EHC Plan. Following this, Miss X appealed to tribunal.
21. Miss X complained to the Council about this matter again and asked her MP to write to the Council about this in mid-August.
22. The Council responded to the MP shortly after. It explained that it had issued a draft EHC Plan to Miss X at the start of August for her to comment on.
23. The Council issued Y’s final EHC Plan in mid-September. As part of this, it agreed to provide occupational therapy provision to help Y with her diet, a sensory safe environment and fortnightly one to one sessions.
24. In an undated letter, Miss X complained to the Council about its delay in providing the occupational therapy provision.
25. The Council agreed the funding for the occupational therapy assessment in October. This assessment was completed and sent to the Council in January 2026. The Council approved the recommendations in March, and the provision started in April.
26. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint at the end of April. It accepted it had delayed in providing the occupational therapy provision, which the Council explained was due to the commissioning process.

Findings

The Council delayed in completing Y’s annual review in April 2025

27. It is clear from the documentation and the Council’s admissions that there have been delays in this case. Following the review meeting in April 2025, the Council should have told Miss X of its decision to either amend, maintain or cease to maintain the EHC Plan by mid-May 2025.
28. But, the Council did not send its decision to not amend Y’s EHC Plan to Miss X until mid-July 2025. This delay of around 8 weeks was not in line with statutory timeframes and was fault. This caused Miss X uncertainty and delayed her right to tribunal, which I understand she has since used.

The Council failed to provide an occupational therapist, which was part of Y’s section F provision

29. Y was entitled to support by way of her EHC Plan. A council has a legal duty to secure all the provision in section F of an EHC Plan. In Y’s case, this included providing occupational therapy provision to help Y with her diet, a sensory safe environment and fortnightly one to one sessions.
30. In its complaint response in April 2026, the Council accepted that it had agreed funding for an occupational therapy assessment in October 2025, but that it took until April 2026 for the provision to start. This delay was fault.
31. This caused Y to miss out on provision named in section F of her EHC Plan for around six months. This has a detrimental impact on Y as she lost out on the provision she was legally entitled to, which her EHC Plan said she needed to access for her development, wellbeing and to be able to access suitable education.

Remedies

32. I recognise that the Council has already made service improvements about these matters in response to similar complaints. I am satisfied with these service improvements and so will not recommend anything further here. However, I will recommend the Council provide remedies for the personal injustice caused to Miss X and Y.

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Action

33. Within four weeks of my final decision, the Council will:
• apologise to Miss X for the uncertainty, loss of provision and delayed tribunal right caused to her and Y by its faults. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making its apology;
• make a symbolic payment of £200 to Miss X, on behalf of Y, to recognise the frustration, distress and uncertainty caused by the delay in reviewing Y’s EHC plan; and
• make a payment to Miss X, on behalf of Y, of £500 to reflect the lack of section F provision for Y from September 2025 to April 2026.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman