Suffolk County Council (21 013 988)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council in relation to the evidence provided by a school at the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST). This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint is out of our jurisdiction as we cannot consider issues connected with a court process
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, says that the Council tried to influence evidence from a school during a Tribunal hearing regarding his child’s Special Educational Need (SEN) provision. He says the Council acted in bad faith and against his child’s interests.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X complaint because it relates to something connected with proceedings in a court and is therefore out of our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman