Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council delayed arranging a personal budget and failed to ensure that Special Educational Needs provision is being met. This is because the Council has taken appropriate steps regarding the personal budget so further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. The complainant has used their right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal and the issue of Special Educational Needs provision is not separable from that appeal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council failed to arrange a personal budget for her son’s wellbeing and that it has failed to include funding for a Teaching Assistant in her son’s Education Health and Care (EHC) plan, meaning this provision is not being met.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

7. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council failed to arrange a personal budget for her son’s wellbeing. This is because the Council has now arranged the personal budget, apologised for not doing so sooner and backdated payments. Further investigation into this matter would not achieve a different outcome.
8. I cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that provision of a Teaching Assistant detailed in Section F of her son’s EHC plan is not being met, because the Council failed to include funding for this provision in her son’s EHC plan. Mrs X has appealed to the SEND Tribunal about the contents of the EHC plan and her appeal grounds include the lack of funding for a Teaching Assistant. Therefore, the delivery of this provision is not separable from her appeal to the SEND Tribunal, which places this element of her complaint out of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it would not achieve a different outcome and the delivery of Teaching Assistant provision is not separable from her appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman