| SPOTLIGHT |
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has recommended Leeds City Council pay a mother £100 per month of delay after it failed to carry out an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs assessment for her son within the statutory timeframes.
The Ombudsman found that the delay was caused by a shortage of educational psychologists, which the council has now set up an action plan to rectify.
The mother behind the complaint told the Ombudsman that the council failed to complete an EHC needs assessment for her son, J, and issue an EHC plan within the statutory time limits.
J is home educated. His mother, Miss H, asked the council to complete an EHC needs assessment for him. The council at first declined. Miss H appealed to the SEND tribunal about that decision.
On 7 September 2023, following an appeal, the SEND tribunal ordered the council to complete an EHC needs assessment for J.
Following the tribunal order, the council sent assessment requests to the educational psychology service and NHS services. These were to be returned to the council by 3 November, the Ombudsman report noted.
On 16 November, Miss H made a stage one complaint to the council about the delay in J’s EHC assessment.
The council responded two weeks later. It apologised that it was now late in deciding whether J needed an EHC Plan, as it had not been able to access an educational psychologist to carry out an assessment within the statutory timeframe.
“It explained this was due to the national shortage of educational psychologists and set out the steps it was taking to increase its supply of these professionals”, said the Ombudsman.
According to the watchdog, J is still waiting for an educational psychologist assessment and the council have not yet decided whether he needs an EHC plan.
The Ombudsman investigated and concluded that Leeds City Council should have informed Miss H of its decision whether J needed an EHC plan by 16 November 2023.
The Ombudsman said: “Although lack of educational psychologists is out of council control, this is an example of service failure, which we still consider to be fault.”
To remedy the injustice caused, within one month of the final decision, the council agreed to pay Miss H £100 per month of delay from the statutory deadline of 16 November 2023 until the date the final EHC plan (or the letter stating a decision not to issue) is sent to Miss H.
The Ombudsman said: “This is to acknowledge the continued frustration and uncertainty caused by the delay in deciding whether to issue an EHC plan.”
Councillor Helen Hayden, Executive Member for Children and Families at Leeds City Council said: “Like many local authorities across the UK, Leeds has seen a growing number of applications for Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments, which is putting an unsustainable strain on services and has meant that we are not providing the level of service that we would wish to.
“We absolutely understand the frustration and uncertainty this has caused to the young people and families affected.
“Whilst we do not comment on individual cases, the council accepts the findings in the Ombudsman’s report and has apologised to the family.
“We remain committed to ensuring that every child and family in Leeds has access to the best possible support which helps meet their educational needs.
“The council recently embarked on a rigorous, external review aimed at setting out new processes that would put the needs of children and their families at the forefront while at the same time delivering both change and increased efficiency.
“This detailed work has resulted in a range of proposals, including securing additional external educational psychologists, that will enable us to deliver better and more timely services to the children, young people and families of Leeds.”
Lottie Winson
