Sheffield City Council (23 021 243)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Jul 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the education provided to her child since 2019. Part of the complaint is late and she has appealed to the SEND Tribunal about the content of her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan and so we cannot investigate this.
The complaint
- Ms X complains the Council has failed to provide her son with suitable education since 2019. She also disagrees with the content of her son’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan finalised in November 2023. She wants the Council to amend his EHC Plan to reflect his needs and provide him with suitable education.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot investigate this complaint. A complaint about the education provided to her son before 2023 is late and there is no good reason to investigate now.
- Ms X disagrees with the school named in the final amended EHC Plan issued for her son in November 2023 and she has used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal about this. We cannot investigate when someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint because part of the complaint is late and she has appealed to the SEND Tribunal about the content of her son’s EHC Plan.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman