Central Bedfordshire Council (23 004 202)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Jul 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about which school the Council should name on an Education Health and Care Plan. The Tribunal considered this.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council should not have named School Y on B’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan).
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X says her child, B, has an EHC Plan. She says the Council named School Y in the EHC Plan. She says School Y was never suitable for B. She says she had to appeal to SEND to get School Y removed from the EHC Plan. Her appeal was successful. She says she incurred costs in doing so. She says she should never had have to appeal as School Y was never suitable. She says B missed education during the appeal.
- A child with special educational needs may have an EHC plan. This sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about education, or name a different school. Only the tribunal can do this.
- We cannot investigate issues which have been before a Tribunal. We cannot investigate why the Council named School Y. We cannot investigate why another school was not offered during the appeal. We also cannot investigate the costs Mrs X incurred. The Tribunal has the power to order costs. We cannot investigate something which the Tribunal could have ordered even if it was not asked or chose not to.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the Tribunal considered which school was suitable for B.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman