Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Education, Health and Care Plan process for the complainant’s child. This is because it was reasonable for Mrs X to use her right of appeal.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) process for her child. Mrs X is unhappy with the content of her child’s EHC Plan and how the Council decided it.

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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 law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review 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 use this right. (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. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint.
8. Parents unhappy with the content of their child’s EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is the mechanism established by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. The Tribunal can decide if the content of an EHC Plan should be changed and if the Council should carry out any further assessments. These are not decisions we can take. An appeal to the Tribunal could, however, give Mrs X the outcome she wants. We cannot. It was therefore reasonable for Mrs X to appeal and so we will not investigate.
9. The way the Council reached its decisions about the content of the EHC Plan link directly the matter Mrs X could have appealed and so is outside our jurisdiction.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it was reasonable for her to use her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman