Summary: Miss X complains the Council have failed to ensure her son received his special education needs (SEN) provision. We have discontinued our investigation because the Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the matter is inextricably linked to the matters considered by the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal and is therefore outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss X, complains the Council have failed to ensure her son, Y, received his SEN provision. Miss X also complains the Council have not undertaken a CAMHS assessment as it said it would. Miss X would like the Council to provide funding for a speech and language therapist and a mental health specialist assessment.

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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. 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.
4. The Ombudsman has no jurisdiction where a parent has appealed to SEND Tribunal from the date the appeal right arises (i.e., when an Education, Health and Care Plan is issued) until the appeal is completed.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council. Miss X and the Council were also invited to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

6. The Council finalised Y’s EHC plan in March 2021. Miss X complains the Council failed to ensure Y received his SEN provision and failed to carry out an assessment.
7. Miss X recently appealed to the SEND Tribunal. The SEND Tribunal issued its decision in December 2021.
8. Miss X says her complaint is separate to matters appealed to the tribunal. Matters Miss X complains about are however inseparable from the appeals process. Miss X complains about the absence of SEN provision and a CAMHS assessment. The CAMHS assessment was subject to consideration by the tribunal. Further, the specific nature of the day-to-day EHCP provision was also subject to consideration by the tribunal.
9. We therefore cannot investigate this complaint because matters complained about are inextricably linked to matters already considered by the SEND Tribunal. This places Miss X’s complaint outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

10. We have discontinued our investigation into this complaint. This is because matters complained about are inextricably linked to matters already considered by the SEND Tribunal and are therefore outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman