Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the contents of an Education Health and Care Plan. This is because it is reasonable for Mr X to use his right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that the Council finalised an Education health and Care (EHC) Plan for his sin that is not fit for purpose and about how the Council communicated with him about the matter. Mr X says his son is not getting the support that he needs and wants the Council to amend the EHC Plan.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of the final EHC Plan issued by the Council because it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use his right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Only the Tribunal can give Mr X the outcome he wants which is for changes to be made to the EHC Plan and I see no good reason why Mr X cannot use that right of appeal.
8. I will not investigate how the Council communicated with Mr X about these matters because I do not consider that this alone has caused him a significant enough injustice to justify investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is reasonable for him to use his right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman