Summary: We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint that the Council failed to provide alternative educational provision for her child since September 2022. This is because the complaint is late. We cannot look at other issues raised by Mrs Y because they concern the actions of a school.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains that the Council:
1. has failed to arrange suitable alternative provision for her child, A, since September 2022 when he became unable to attend school; and
2. failed to address wellbeing and safeguarding concerns she raised about A’s school in September 2022.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
6. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
7. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Mrs Y complains the Council failed to arrange alternative provision for A between September 2022 and November 2023 when he was unable to attend school. This complaint is late, as Mrs Y did not complain to the Ombudsman until November 2024, and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion. Further, the matter of whether the Council should have arranged alternative provision was linked to the suitability of A’s school, which was the subject of an appeal to the SEND Tribunal. We cannot look at any complaint that overlaps with a SEND Tribunal appeal.
11. We cannot consider Mrs Y’s complaint about the Council’s handling of wellbeing and safeguarding concerns she raised about A’s school. This is because it concerns the actions of a school, which we cannot look at.
12. Mrs Y’s complaint about the Council’s failure to arrange alternative provision since November 2023 is premature. I will not investigate this complaint as it is reasonable to give the Council the chance to do so first. If Mrs Y remains unhappy with the Council’s final complaint response, it is open to her to contact us again.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint that the Council failed to provide alternative educational provision for her child since September 2022. This is because the complaint is late. We cannot look at other issues raised by Mrs Y because they concern the actions of a school.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman