Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council managed its assessments of a child’s Special Educational Needs. Some matters have been subject to tribunal appeals. There is either insufficient evidence of fault with other matters, or nothing more we can achieve. We also cannot investigate what has happened in schools.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Ms X, complains about how the Council and a school has dealt with her granddaughters Special Educational Needs (SEN) and education provision since 2018. Ms X says the Council’s actions have negatively impacted her granddaughters education. I will call Ms X’s granddaughter Z.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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. 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.
6. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Ms X complains that the Council initially refused to issue Z an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan in July 2018. After Ms X successfully appealed this decision to the SEND Tribunal, a plan was issued in March 2019. Ms X says this did not meet Z’s needs and so she again appealed to the SEND Tribunal. In December 2020, the SEN Tribunal ordered the Council to amend sections B, F and I of Z’s EHC plan in accordance with annexes which were included in the order.
10. I cannot investigate how the Council dealt with its assessments of Z’s needs between July 2018 and December 2020. This is because these matters have been subject to appeals to a tribunal, which places them outside of our jurisdiction. Furthermore, these events happened too long ago.
11. Ms X complains that the Council delayed issuing Z’s final EHC plan after the tribunal order was issued. She also says when the final plan was issued it did not include the amendments that were agreed during the tribunal proceedings.
12. I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council delayed issuing Z’s plan. It told Ms X that it did email a copy of the plan but that her email address had been inputted into it system incorrectly. It apologised to Ms X for the error that led to the delay. Having considered this point, I consider that the Council’s apology was an appropriate and proportionate response, and I therefore do not consider that further investigation would lead to a different outcome.
13. I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the EHC plan issued by the Council does not include the changes agreed during the tribunal proceeding. We cannot investigate what was discussed or agreed during the tribunal proceedings as these matters fall outside of our jurisdiction, we can only assess if the Council complied with the order issued by the tribunal judge. Having reviewed both the order issued by the SEND Tribunal and the final EHC plan subsequently issued by the Council I am satisfied that the Council has amended the plan in accordance with the tribunals order. Therefore, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.
14. Finally, we cannot investigate Ms X complaint that Z’s school inappropriately allocated Z a work experience placement. This is because we cannot investigate what happens in schools.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because some elements are late, have been subject to tribunal appeals or are about what happened in a school. There is either no fault or nothing more we could achieve with other elements.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman