Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the cost of an occupational therapist’s report as its part of a Tribunal appeal. And there are no good reasons to disapply the late complaint rule about her claim the Council failed to provide sensory support.

The complaint

1. Mrs X says she should be refunded for an Occupational Therapist (OT) report and the Council failed to provide her child Y with the educational support they needed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs X which included the Council’s replies to her.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X says the Council agreed to reassess Y’s special educational needs following an annual review of their Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) in November 2022. The Council provided an amended Final EHC Plan in March 2023. Mrs X says it did not provide for Y’s needs in particularly their sensory needs. She paid for an OT report and appealed the EHC Plan to the Tribunal.
7. The Tribunal decided in January 2024 to uphold part of Mrs X’s appeal and allow for sensory support. She says in doing so it used the OT report she had privately paid for. She says the Council should have obtained the OT report. She says the Council should refund its cost.
8. We cannot investigate this. The injustice caused by the Council not getting its own OT report is the claim the EHC Plan does not meet the child’s needs. This was the subject of the appeal. Also it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to have asked the Tribunal to use its wide powers to order reports be completed.
9. Mrs X says Y’s needs as set out in their EHC Plan were not met in September 2022. This is more than 12 months ago. We will not investigate events known to Mrs X for more than 12 months without good reasons. Mrs X has provided no reasons she delayed complaining to us until now.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot investigate issues which are part of a Tribunal appeal and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman