Summary: Mrs X complains that the Council has been paying a taxi firm for transport for her son, which he did not require. She also complains about aspects of his education. I have discontinued this investigation. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice in relation to the transport payments, while the education complaints are largely out of our jurisdiction or have been remedied.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mrs X, complains that the Council has been paying transport costs for her son to a taxi firm for years. She also says the following about her 14-year old son’s education:
1. He has not been taught the national curriculum and the tuition offered to him has been inadequate;
2. She wants his current special educational needs (SEN) provision extended until he is 18 or 19 so that he can “catch up”) and says the Council has failed to communicate adequately about this;
3. The Council is wrongly expecting her son to sit his GCSEs in two years when he is not ready;
4. Mrs X is unhappy with his current Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) which has not been changed to reflect new diagnoses.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organization.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

4. 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 or care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
7. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by Mrs X and by the Council. I have shared this draft decision with Mrs X and the Council and consider Mrs X’s comments before finalising my decision.

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Education, Health and Care Plans

9. An EHCP is a document which sets out the education, healthcare and social care needs of a child or young person for whom extra support is needed in school, beyond that which the school can provide. It also sets out the provision the Council will make to meet these needs.
10. Parents may appeal the Council’s decisions on the content of an EHCP to the Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal.

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What I found

11. Mrs X complains that the Council has overpaid a taxi firm which transported her son to school for a short period of time. I have decided not to investigate this complaint further as there is no evidence of personal injustice to Mrs X or her son.
12. At a) and c) Mrs X complains about the content of her son’s curriculum and a plan to enter her son for GCSE exams. Complaints about what happened in schools, curricula and decisions on the timing of exams are not within our jurisdiction and I cannot investigate them.
13. I have decided not to investigate Mrs X’s complaint at b) about the Council’s communication around extending her son’s provision until he is 18 or beyond. This is because there is no evidence of injustice to Mrs X or her son. No decision has yet been made about ceasing the plan.
14. Mrs X complains at d) about the content of her son’s EHCP. I cannot investigate this as Mrs X has a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Final decision

15. I have decided to discontinue this investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman