£400 compensation bill for Herts County Council after education health and care plan delay
Hertfordshire County Council must pay £400 compensation for taking too long to update a girl’s education health and care plan (EHCP).
An EHCP is a statutory document that outlines a child’s special educational needs, the support that they should be offered and even the school they should attend.
Once issued, the plan must be reviewed annually, with parents being informed of any amendments within four weeks and a new EHCP issued within a further eight weeks.
At the end of last year, a parent complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).
According to the LGSCO’s investigation, the annual review of a daughter’s EHCP was held in June 2024. However, a draft of the new plan was not shared with the mother until late November.
As a result, the LGSCO has found that the council was at fault for the delay in sending out the draft plan. Its report recommended that the council pay the parent £400, in recognition of the “likely injustice” from the delay.
The parent also complained to the LGSCO about the way the council had arrived at its views in her daughter’s draft new plan – particularly referring to the way the needs assessment was carried out.
However, the LGSCO report says this cannot be investigated because they are appealable to the SEND Tribunal.
In response to the LGSCO’s findings, county council officers highlighted the investment that has been made in the SEND workforce.
They noted the increasing numbers of EHCP annual reviews that are being completed within statutory time scales.
Data shows that in the previous 12 months (end of January 2024 to end of February 2025) 44% of EHCPs amended following an annual review were finalised within 12 weeks. That is significantly above the 27% figure recorded over the whole of 2024 and the 18% recorded in 2023.
A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “Through the ombudsman process we have apologised to the family involved in this case and continue to be committed to partnership working to better support families.
“While we have recently seen significant improvements in both quality and timeliness of EHCPs, we know that there is much more work to do in order that these improvements are widespread for families across Hertfordshire.
“We recognise that while significant progress has been made, and the service is starting to see some impacts, that experiences will not have improved immediately for all children, young people and families across Hertfordshire.
“We continuously seek feedback on children and young people’s current lived experience to assess the impact of actions and remain committed as a partnership to delivering the improvements needed to support families across the county.”
