County council to pay more than £13k for EHC plan failures

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found Cambridgeshire County Council at fault for its delays in reviewing a boy’s EHC Plan, its failure to consider provision for adulthood and its failure to provide educational support.

The council has agreed to pay £13,200 to the family behind the complaint.

Outlining the background to the case, the Ombudsman said Mrs X complained the council had failed to provide her son, Y, with “virtually all the provision” detailed in his EHC Plan since 2018, including access to the resources at his named school.

Mrs X also complained the council delayed in reviewing her son’s EHC Plan and, when it did complete the review, “failed to complete the review process correctly”.

Further, Mrs X complained that the council failed to arrange an annual review meeting her son could attend and failed to carry out the annual review process correctly in 2023.

The Ombudsman investigated and concluded that the council was at fault for failing to provide a transition plan for Mrs X’s son to access education in school, and for failing to provide educational support from his EHC Plan.

The report stated: “Y was not attending school at any point from 20 January 2021 until 10 July 2023. However, Y did receive one-to-one tuition from a tutor who held a good rapport with Y and understanding of his needs. Y also missed most of the other educational provision set out in his EHC Plan.

“While this will have had an impact on Y, Y has himself said he considered the education provided by his tutor was more suitable for him than an education at The School. As such, I consider an award at the lower end of range is more suitable in this circumstance.”

The Ombudsman also found fault with the council for delays in reviewing Y’s EHC Plan.

Further, the investigation found fault with the council’s “failure to consider provision for preparation for adulthood at the correct time”, failing to make the 2023 annual review accessible to Y, and failing to consult with a “relevant professional”.

The report said: “The Council has accepted fault for arranging Y’s EHC Plan in an online format when this would be inaccessible to Y. […] The Council has accepted fault for failing to consult relevant professionals as part of Y’s EHC Plan such as the Occupational Therapists and Speech and Language Therapists. The Council also accepted it failed to circulate the reports in good time.”

To remedy the injustice caused, the Ombudsman recommended the council (within one month of its final decision) to:

• complete and publish the information about what young people can expect from a person-centred approach and publish this on its SEND Information Hub (Local Offer)
• complete and publish information in an accessible format on the Pathways through its processes on reviewing, maintaining and amending EHC Plans and publish this on its SEND Information Hub (Local Offer)
• provide a payment of £750 to Mrs X for the avoidable distress caused by the council’s fault in this matter.
• provide a payment of £4,050 to Mrs X to reimburse the privately sourced costs incurred for Y’s Clinical Psychologist sessions.
• provide a payment of £8,400 to Mrs X for Y’s missed educational provision from 20 January 2021 until 10 July 2023.

A Cambridgeshire County Council spokesperson said: “We accept the Ombudsman’s findings and have apologised to the complainant for failure to provide provision detailed in the EHC plan and for the delays in the annual review and transition process. We have complied with the recommendations from the Ombudsman.

“We currently maintain more than 7,500 EHC Plans and have seen a 30% increase in related assessment requests over the last year. Incidents such as this are rare, but we have taken on board the lessons we have learned to minimise the risk of anything similar happening again.”

Lottie Winson