Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a child’s school placement. This is because the complainant has used their right of appeal to a tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council failed to consider relevant information when considering what school his son should attend. Mr X wants the Council to allocate his son a school that can meet his needs.

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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. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (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. The Council has issued an Education Health & Care (EHC) Plan for Mr X’s son, and Mr X has appealed the contents of the plan to the SEND Tribunal. Mr X’s grounds of appeal include his belief that a specialist school should be named in the EHC Plan. I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is about the same thing that he has appealed to the SEND Tribunal.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman