Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the process leading to the production of an Education Health and Care Plan for his son. This is because one key aspect of the complaint is late, and the other concerns matters which fall outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr B, complains that the Council delayed issuing his son’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), forced him to lodge an unnecessary appeal, in the course of which it failed to adhere to the statutory process and failed to respond reasonably to his subsequent complaint.

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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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. SEND is a tribunal that considers special educational needs. (The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (‘SEND’))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered what Mr A has said in support of his complaint and the complaint correspondence provided by the Council.

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What I found

7. Mr B’s son has special educational needs. In November 2017 Mr B requested that the Council assess his son for an EHCP. He complains the Council failed to issue the final EHCP until June 2018, twelve weeks late.
8. The Ombudsman will not investigate this aspect of Mr B’s complaint because it is late. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has sone.
9. The Ombudsman has the discretion to consider late complaints where it is appropriate to do so. That is not the case here. Mr B could have complained about the delay at any point from May 2018 but did not do so. I can see no grounds on which to use the Ombudsman’s discretion.
10. Mr B further complains about fault in the assessment process, leading to an EHCP naming a school which was inappropriate for his son. He contends that this forced his to make an unnecessary appeal to SEND. He argues that Council officers were at fault in their response to his appeal and throughout the tribunal process.
11. The Ombudsman cannot investigate these matters. When an appeal to SEND is made, anything which takes place between the date appeal rights are engaged and when the appeal is decided falls outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. We cannot therefore investigate these parts of Mr B’s complaint.
12. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. We will not therefore consider how the Council responded to Mr B’s complaint.

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Final decision

13. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because one key aspect of the complaint is late and the other falls outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman