The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about delays in the Education Health and Care Plan process. This is because the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her £100 per month for the delay. We consider this an appropriate remedy and further investigation is therefore unlikely to achieve anything more.
The complaint
The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council failed to complete the Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process for her son, Y, in accordance with the statutory deadlines. Ms X requested an assessment on 18 May 2023 and the Council had 16 weeks to assess Y and decide whether to issue him an EHC Plan. It notified Ms X of its decision not to issue an EHC Plan on 3 April 2024.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council is required to carry out needs assessments and give notice of its decision about whether to issue an EHC Plan within 16 weeks from the date of the request for an assessment. It should therefore have told Ms X if it intended to issue Y an EHC Plan by 6 September 2023.
The Council wrote to Ms X with its decision not to issue Y an EHC Plan on 3 April 2024, almost seven months after the deadline. It has accepted delay in completing Y’s assessment and deciding whether to issue him an EHC Plan. It has explained that a lack of Educational Psychologists has contributed to the delay. The failure to issue a decision amounts to service failure.
We are satisfied the Council is taking action to deal with the issues caused by a lack of Educational Psychologists. In response to our findings in a previous case it sent us an action plan of its service improvements.
The Council has agreed to the following actions to remedy Ms X’s complaint: Apologise to Ms X for the delay in the EHC Plan process; Pay Ms X £100 for each month of delay. I have calculated the delay from the date the Council should have notified Ms X of its decision- 6 September 2023- to the date it wrote to Ms X with the decision- 3 April 2024. The delay amounts to almost seven months and the Council will therefore pay Ms X £700. It should make the payment to Ms X and provide its apology within four weeks of the date of this decision.
I consider the remedy agreed by the Council is suitable and that it is taking steps to address the issue at the heart of this complaint. It is therefore unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for Ms X.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has agreed a suitable remedy for the injustice caused by its delay.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman