Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to secure Speech and Language Therapy for the complainant’s son, and delayed amending his Education Health and Care Plan. This is because investigation would not achieve anything significant in addition to the remedy the Council has already offered.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council has failed to secure the provision set out in her son’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and has delayed issuing his amended EHCP after the latest Annual Review.

Back to top

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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

5. Mrs X’s son has special educational needs and an EHCP. The EHCP includes the provision of Speech and Language Therapy (SLT). Mrs X says that, following the Annual Review of the EHCP in January 2023, SLT was not provided for six months. She further complains that the amended EHCP has not been issued.
6. In a response made to Mrs X’s complaint after she came to the Ombudsman, the Council has accepted that it has been at fault in delaying the provision of SLT. It has apologised and undertaken to ensure that the provision is put in place and that missed SLT sessions are provided.
7. This action on the Council’s part is in line with the remedy Mrs X was seeking and with what the Ombudsman would seek to achieve in the circumstances of the case. Our intervention would be unlikely to achieve anything significantly different and is not therefore necessary.
8. Regarding the amended EHCP, councils should inform parents or carers of the outcome of an Annual Review within four weeks. There is no specific timescale for making amendments. The guidance simply says they should be made without delay.
9. I can make no finding on this aspect of Mrs X’s complaint without investigation. But I note from the record of the Annual Review that there was no proposal to amend the provision set out in the EHCP. Therefore, delay cannot have impacted on Mrs X’s son’s provision. That being the case, investigation by the Ombudsman is not warranted.

Back to top

Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve anything significant in addition to the remedy the Council has already offered.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman