Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint that the Council refused to carry out an Education Health and Care needs assessment. This is because the complaint has used their right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council failed to carry out an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her child. Mrs X also complains about a lack of support at her child’s school and that the Council delayed responding to her complaint about these matters.

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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.
5. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools unless it relates to special educational needs, when the schools are acting on behalf of the council to secure educational provision as set out in Section F of the young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. I cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council refused to carry out an EHC needs assessment in 2022 and again in 2023. This is because Mrs X used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal which places these decisions outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
9. I cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the lack of support offered by her child’s school. This is because we are only able to investigate the actions of school in regard to how it secures provision detailed in an EHC plan. As the Council refused to carry out an EHC needs assessment there was no EHC plan in place meaning the schools actions fall outside of our jurisdiction.
10. Finally, I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with her complaint. It is not a good use of public funds to investigate a council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substance of a complaint.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman