Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to assess her child for an Education, Health and Care Plan. Mrs X appealed to a tribunal which places the matter outside our jurisdiction.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision not to assess her child for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mrs X is unhappy with the Council’s decision and the way it was reached.

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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.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint. This is because Mrs X appealed the Council’s decision to the SEND Tribunal. When an appeal has been made, the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction to consider related matters from the point at which the appeal rights were engaged to the point at which the SEND Tribunal issued its decision. The courts have held we cannot investigate any matters closely linked to the matters under appeal. The decisions themselves are therefore outside our jurisdiction, as is the decision-making process. We are also barred from looking at the Council’s conduct during the appeals process. We therefore have no jurisdiction to consider Mrs X’s complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has appealed to a tribunal. The case is therefore outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman