Council promises EHC plan overhaul after ombudsman criticism
Nina Jacobs
Friday, February 7, 2020
A council is to overhaul its policy for education, health and care (EHC) plans issued to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) after an investigation raised “significant concerns” about its review process.
A report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman outlines a complaint brought against Luton Borough Council by the mother of a primary school child with SEND after it was found the child's EHC plan had not been reviewed or amended.
The ombudsman went on to discover during the course of the investigation that the council was carrying out “significantly fewer” annual reviews of children’s EHC plans than it was legally required to do so.
“The investigation found Luton could not accurately say how many annual reviews it has undertaken because it does not have complete information about review meetings which have taken place in its schools,” the report states.
Further inquiries made by the ombudsman about the way the council reviews its EHC plans, found that it could not provide figures for the number of plans which had been amended and issued.
“It also could not give numbers for the amount of plans it has decided to stop maintaining, or where it has made the decisions to continue with them unamended,” the report adds.
Michael King, the local government and social care ombudsman, said his investigation into the mother’s concerns echoed those raised by the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted in their joint review of Luton’s SEND services.
“It is vitally important that councils make regular reviews of children’s EHC plans to ensure they meet the children’s current, rather than historic needs,” King added.
The ombudsman upheld the mother’s complaint after it found the council’s information showed there was no “adequate” system to ensure EHC plans were being reviewed properly as required by law and statutory guidance.
The council had also not been monitoring the delivery of the plans it had issued, the ombudsman said.
It ordered the council to pay £4,086 for the child’s educational provision and a further £500 for the mother’s distress and time and trouble.
It was also told to pay the family £100 to acknowledge the frustration caused by delaying their right to appeal.
“The council is aware that reviews are not being held for some children, but has stressed it is working hard to improve its information systems,” King added.
The ombudsman said the council had agreed to produce a detailed action plan that would deliver its own procedures for monitoring the delivery of all its EHC plans through annual reviews.
The action plan would provide a timescale for when the council intends to put these procedures in place and the staff training needed to implement them, the ombudsman added.
Councillor Mahmood Hussain, children’s services portfolio holder in Luton, said: “We are sorry that this child and their family have clearly not received the offer and experience of quality service that they need.
“We accept the findings of the ombudsman’s report and acknowledge that we did not review the EHC plan within the statutory timescales.
“We are already working on a robust action plan to ensure regular reviews of all children’s EHC plans are conducted within statutory timescales.
“We have also appointed a significant number of additional staff to support the process as we are determined to ensure that all children in Luton get the right support at the right time.
“We are currently coming to the end of a programme that has seen 220 professionals from across health, social care and education at Luton Council receive training on the EHC plan process and the associated statutory responsibilities.”
