The council has missed a deadline

Timing

What this page covers

Delay and refusal are handled by different routes. This page is about delay: waiting past a timescale with no decision.

Evidence to gather

• The request and the date it was sentEvery timescale runs from when the council received it.
• Acknowledgements from the councilThey confirm receipt and often the date the clock started.
• A log of chasing emails and callsIt shows the delay is not for want of asking.

The steps

1. 1

   Work out which timescale applies

   The council must decide within six weeks of receiving a request whether to carry out an EHC needs assessment. If it assesses and decides not to issue a plan, that decision is normally due by week 16. If it decides a plan is needed, the final plan must be issued within 20 weeks of the request. A small number of exceptions are set out in the regulations.

2. 2

   Put the delay in writing and ask for a date

   A short email asking which stage the case is at and when a decision will be made creates the written record everything else rests on.

3. 3

   Use the council’s formal complaints process

   Delay is a complaint, not an appeal. Councils publish their complaints procedure and the stages it goes through.

4. 4

   Escalate to the Ombudsman once that is finished

   The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman looks at complaints about council delay after the council’s own process has run its course.

5. 5

   Keep a dated record throughout

   The date of the request, every acknowledgement, and every promise of a date. A complaint about delay rests on that timeline.