The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delay in the Education, Health and Care Plan process. The complaint is late and it was reasonable for Mr X to complain earlier.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complained about delay in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) process for his daughter. Mr X says the Council failed to meet the timescales in the SEN Code of Practice leading to missed provision.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council agreed to assess Mr X’s daughter for an EHC Plan in June 2022. It should therefore have completed the process by October 2022. The Council eventually issued a final EHC Plan on 25 July 2023. This was the day after the Council issued is final response to Mr X’s complaint. This directed him to the Ombudsman.
While it is clear the Council took too long to issue the EHC Plan, we will not start an investigation into Mr X’s complaint.
The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem – not twelve months of a council’s final response. Mr X’s complaint is therefore late. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. Complaining to the Ombudsman is relatively easy and the Council’s final response directed Mr X to our service. Mr X only complained to us nine months later, but more importantly, around 19 months after the Council had failed to meet the 20-week deadline. It was reasonable for Mr X to have complained much earlier and so the exception at paragraph 3 applies to his complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late, and it was reasonable for him to have complained earlier.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman