Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to name the complainants preferred school on their child’s Education Health and Care plan. This is because the Council has now agreed to name the complainants preferred school so further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Mrs X, complains that the Council refused to name her preferred school on her daughter’s Education Health and Care (EHC) plan. Mrs X would like the Council to name her preferred school as she believes it is the only school that can meet her daughter’s needs.

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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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
4. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Since complaining to the Ombudsman, the Council has made the decision to name Mrs X’s preferred school on her daughter’s EHC plan. This is the outcome that Mrs X was seeking so further investigation would not achieve a different outcome. For this reason, I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint.
8. Even if the Council had not named Mrs X’s preferred school on her daughter’s EHC plan we would not have investigated this complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to have used her right of appeal against the decision to the SEND Tribunal.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman