Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Education Health and Care Plan delays and a failure to provide an education meantime. We cannot investigate issues which are subject to an appeal, and it is not possible to know the injustice until the Tribunal ends.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council delayed in assessing and completing an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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.
3. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X is the mother of B. She says B stopped attending school in May 2019. She says they requested an EHC Plan assessment in July 2020. She says the Council refused. She says she made a further request in April 2021. She says the Council agreed to assess B but in July 202 it said it would not issue an EHC Plan. Mrs X appealed that decision to SEND.
7. Mrs X says in March 2022 the Council agreed to issue an EHC Plan. She received it in June 2022. Mrs X has appealed the EHC Plan’s contents to SEND. She says the EHC Plan does not adequately provide for B’s support, and she disputes the education setting. She says B is currently receiving education from the setting she wants.
8. Mrs X complains that the Council has unreasonably delayed in providing an EHC Plan and that meanwhile it has failed to provide B with a suitable education.
9. The Council has upheld part of her complaint.
10. We cannot investigate if the EHC Plan adequately meets B’s needs as this is being appealed. We also cannot at this stage work out the injustice caused to B by any delays or other failures. This is because we do not know what education B should have been receiving, and will not, until the Tribunal’s decision is known.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot investigate the same issues the Tribunal is considering, and we will not know the level of injustice until the Tribunal’s decision is known.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman