Summary: We have upheld Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in completing his child’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has delayed completing his child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment. He says the delay has impacted his child who has been left without the correct support.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy.(Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. If we investigated this complaint, it is likely that we would find the Council at fault. The Council agreed to complete an EHC needs assessment but accepts it has not completed this within the statutory timescales. The Council says the delay is due in part to the national shortage of Educational Psychologists.
7. The Council should have issued a decision on whether an EHC plan was needed in August 2024, so there has been a delay of around 7 months. This will have caused Mr X distress in the form of uncertainty.
8. The Council has already agreed to undertake work on improving the EHC plan process including the recruitment of Educational Psychologists, after the Ombudsman upheld other cases. We are therefore satisfied that the Council is taking steps to resolve this issue.
9. We therefore invited the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Mr X by taking the following actions within one month of the date of this decision:

• Provide Mr X with an apology.

• Pay Mr X £700 for the distress due to the delay in issuing a decision on whether an EHC plan is needed.

• Confirm it will make further payments of £100 per month until it decides to either not to issue an EHC plan or it issues a final EHC plan.

10. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within one month of our final decision.

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Final decision

11. We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman