The Ombudsman's final decision
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
Mr X complained about delay in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) process. Mr X says the Council failed to meet the relevant timescales in the SEN Code of Practice.
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) Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X asked the Council to assess his child for an EHC Plan on 20 February 2024. If the Council decided not to issue an EHC Plan, it should have made the decision by 11 June - week 16 of the process. If the Council decided to issue an EHC Plan, it should have done so by 09 July – week 20 of the process.
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 Mr X frustration and distress.
We have considered a similar issue in a previous case. We recommended the Council send us an action plan setting out its efforts to reduce EHC Plan delays. The Council accepted our recommendation.
In cases like this we consider a payment of £100 to be a suitable remedy for each month of delay. We therefore asked the Council to remedy the injustice caused by making a payment to Mr X to resolve the complaint early. The Council has agreed to the following to remedy Mr X’s complaint.
Pay £100 for each month of delay until it issues a refusal decision or a final EHC Plan.
The Council should make the payment within four weeks of whichever option it decides.
The Council has agreed a suitable remedy and we have already made recommendations relating to service improvements in another case. We will not therefore investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has offered a suitable remedy for the identified injustice.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman