Council recommended to pay £6k for failures in handling education of child with special educational needs

The woman behind the complaint, Miss X, complained about Leeds City Council’s handling of her child, Y’s, education between January 2022 and April 2025.

She complained that the council failed to put in place suitable alternative provision for Y after they stopped attending school in January 2022. She also said it significantly delayed completing Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment which subsequently meant it delayed issuing their final EHC Plan.

Y has a history of complex mental health needs which has prevented them being able to attend school for a number of years.

In its report the Ombudsman noted: “Y should have started attending secondary school (School A) in September 2022. Despite various adjustments and engagement strategies they were unable to attend.

“Records show the council arranged for Y to attend its Medical Needs provision from January 2023 for three hours of tuition a week. Miss X said Y engaged with this until June 2023, after which the provision broke down and Y stopped attending.”

In May 2023, Miss X asked the council to carry out an EHC needs assessment for Y. The council wrote to Miss X in mid-July 2023 (three weeks late) agreeing to carry out the assessment.

The Ombudsman said: “In line with statutory timescales, the council should have decided whether to issue Y with an EHC Plan by the start of September 2023. That being the case, the council should then have issued Y’s final EHC Plan by 2 October 2023.”

As part of the EHC needs assessment, the council requested advice from an Educational Psychologist (EP) in July 2023.

Y remained out of education for the remainder of 2023 and their engagement with the Medical Needs tuition became rare.

The EP wrote their report for the EHC needs assessment and provided the council with it at the end of April 2024. This was a delay of 34 weeks, the Ombudsman report noted.

Miss X complained to the council in July 2024 about the delay in completing Y’s EHC needs assessment and the lack of suitable education since Y stopped attending school.

The council issued Y’s draft EHC Plan at the end of August 2024 and sent out consultations to schools.

A special school, School B, indicated it could meet Y’s needs. Miss X and Y visited School B in September 2024, however Y became anxious and Miss X decided they would not be able to attend it.

The council responded to Miss X’s complaint at stage one of its complaints procedure in October 2024. It apologised for the unacceptable delays in completing Y's EHC needs assessment which it blamed on a shortage of EPs and excessive demand. It also cited “unprecedented demand” on its SEND services and a shortage of staff.

Miss X escalated her complaint to stage two of the complaints process.

The Ombudsman noted that Y remained without formal education for the rest of 2024 and into early 2025. Miss X said she self-funded some science and English tuition as well as an online art course.

The council responded to Miss X’s complaint at stage two at the end of December 2024. It offered Miss X the following:

• £500 to recognise the impact of the poor communication;
• £1,000 to acknowledge the delays in the EHC needs assessment process;
• £2,250 to reflect Y’s lack of education since April 2024 when the EP made it aware of their poor attendance at the Medical Needs provision.

Miss X declined the council’s offer.

In January 2025, the council allocated Miss X a new caseworker who helped her request an Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) package for Y. The council’s SEND panel agreed to an EOTAS package for Y in March and then issued the final EHC Plan in April 2025.

Miss X told the Ombudsman that Y’s EHC Plan and EOTAS package had worked well since April 2025 and that Y was back engaging in education.

Considering the complaint, the Ombudsman said: “Following Miss X’s request for an EHC needs assessment, the council should have made the decision whether to issue a Plan by the start of September 2023 and then subsequently issued the final Plan by 2 October 2023.

“The EP report should have been available to the council by the end of August 2023 in order for it to have met the October deadline. The EP report was not complete until the end of of April 2024 which was a delay of 34 weeks and fault. It caused a delay in the council deciding whether to issue Y with an EHC Plan. This service failure came about due to the council being unable to recruit enough EPs to meet demand and a backlog of cases.

“However, the delay in obtaining EP advice was not the only reason for the delay in issuing Y’s final EHC Plan. With EP advice in hand the council should have issued Y’s final Plan by mid-June 2024. It did not do so until 9 April 2025 which is a further delay of 42 weeks which is fault.

“In total the council took 80 weeks (18.5 months) to assess Y and issue the final EHC Plan instead of the 20 weeks statutory timescales due to the delay in obtaining EP advice and because of backlogs and staffing issues in its SEND service.”

Meanwhile, the report said the council accepted it should have done more to support Y when it became clear Y was not engaging with the Medical Needs Provision on receipt of the EP report.

To remedy the injustice caused, the council was recommended to:

• Apologise to Miss X and Y for the distress and uncertainty caused by the EHC needs assessment delays, the lack of oversight around Y’s education between 2023 and 2025 and for Y’s two terms of lost specialist provision.
• Pay Miss X a total of £6,000 to acknowledge:
  • The distress, frustration and uncertainty caused to her by the council’s delay in deciding whether to issue Y with an EHC Plan caused by the delay in obtaining advice from an Educational Psychologist;
  • Y’s loss of specialist provision in the EHC Plan between September 2024 and April 2025, caused by the delay in issuing Y’s final EHC Plan after it had obtained EP advice during the EHC needs assessment process;
  • The uncertainty caused by the lack of oversight and consideration of Y’s education and Medical Needs provision;
  • The distress and uncertainty caused to Miss X.
• Complete an action plan to ensure it has sufficient processes in place to maintain oversight of children out of school receiving alternative provision.

A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: "We have accepted the findings of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in relation to this case and acknowledge that there were delays and shortcomings in the support provided. We sincerely apologise for the impact this had on the child and their family and will implement the recommendations identified by the Ombudsman.

“The council continues to deliver an ongoing improvement programme focused on reducing delays within the EHC needs assessment process and strengthening the support provided to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

“We recognise the importance of providing children and families with the support they need as early as possible and remain committed to improving the consistency and timeliness of our services."

Lottie Winson