Leeds City Council has been criticised after an Ombudsman investigation uncovered significant delays in providing education, health and care (EHC) Plans for children with special educational needs.
An investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found delays by the council in nearly eight out of 10 EHC Plans even after specialist advice had been obtained.
One case found the council took 72 weeks to finalise a child’s EHC Plan, despite statutory guidance requiring completion within 20 weeks. Between January 2022 and March 2023, the authority issued 791 plans – but 78% were completed more than 30 weeks after receiving specialist advice.
Julie Odams, chief executive of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said the delays were having a ‘major impact’ on hundreds of families, with plans routinely taking a further seven months after professional advice was obtained.
The council has apologised and agreed to compensate the family who brought the complaint, while also pledging to implement an action plan, improve communication with parents and carers, and speed up assessments through additional educational psychologist capacity.
A council spokesperson said: ‘We fully accept the Ombudsman’s decision, findings and recommendations and we will implement the recommendations in full as part of our work to improve the speed and quality of how we process EHC assessments and how we keep parents informed throughout the process.’
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