Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to provide alternative educational provision for Ms X’s son while he was unable to attend school. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council refused to provide alternative educational provision for her son under S19 of the Education Act 1996. She believes it is clear her son qualifies for alternative provision and is unhappy the Council ignored the information she provided in refusing to provide it.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

4. It is not our role to rule on the lawfulness of the decision or to seek to interpret and apply caselaw to determine if the Council’s decision was correct. These are matters for the courts.
5. We are also not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
6. I appreciate Ms X disagrees with the Council’s decision and questions the way it was reached, but I have seen no evidence of fault affecting the decision. The Council considered Ms X’s request for alternative provision, along with the evidence she provided in support of the request and information it received from the child’s school, and decided the case did not meet the threshold for alternative provision under Section 19. This was a decision the Council was entitled to make and it does not show the Council ignored the information Ms X provided.
7. Ms X has since provided new information about her child’s ability to attend his current school and the Council has agreed to consider this to decide whether it alters its decision.

Back to top

Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman