Cumbria County Council (21 013 505)

Category : Education > Special educational needs

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 02 Feb 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council carried out an Education Health and Care needs assessment. This is because the complainant has used their right to appeal about the outcome to a tribunal, which places the matter outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains that the Council was at fault in how it carried out an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her daughter. She says the Council should properly assess her daughter and issue an EHC plan.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  2. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
  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 Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

  1. Mrs X asked the Council to carry out an EHC assessment of her daughter’s Special Educational Needs. The Council agreed to the assessment which it completed in July 2021. The Council wrote to Mrs X and informed her that it had decided not to proceed with issuing an EHC plan. Mrs X subsequently appealed the decision.
  2. We cannot investigate this complaint because Mrs X has used her right of appeal to the SEND tribunal. By law, this places all matters which relate to the decision not to issue an EHCP outside our jurisdiction. The alleged failings in assessment process are not separable from the decision not to issue an EHCP. Therefore, the Ombudsman cannot investigate them.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has appealed the matter to a tribunal.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings