Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council placing her son in the wrong school. She has used her right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Miss X said the Council placed her son in the wrong school. She said he has been bullied and she wants him to attend another school.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 held that where someone has appealed to the SEND Tribunal, we have no authority to consider what educational provision should be made for the child concerned. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), R v the Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH, 1999);  R (on the application of ER) v CLA (LGO) [2014] EWCA civ 1407

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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. The correspondence Miss X sent us shows she removed her son from the school named in Section I of his Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan in autumn 2023. It shows the Council reviewed the EHC Plan, but decided the named school was still suitable for the child. It also shows by December 2023 Miss X had exercised her right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is for the SEND Tribunal to decide what provision the child requires. We can have no role here.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal about the matter complained of.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman