Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Education, Health and Care Plan process. This is because it is unlikely we could add anything to the Council’s response. If Miss X is unhappy with the content of her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan, then it is reasonable for her to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complained about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Miss X says the Council wrongly deleted items from the EHC Plan. Miss X says the Council used “sneaky underhand tactics” to try and diminish her son’s needs.

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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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (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.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council has responded to Miss X’s complaints and said it did not delete any items deliberately. It said there were a number of changes needed with several amended EHC Plans involved. The Council said a meeting had been held with the EHC Plan put back into draft form so changes could be made.
8. We will not start an investigation into Miss X’s complaint.
9. It is unlikely that if we investigated we could add anything to the Council’s response or achieve a different outcome. Also, the injustice from the process of deciding the EHC Plan would be mainly around the content of the EHC Plan itself. Parents who are unhappy with the content of an EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. If Miss X remained unhappy with the content of her child’s EHC Plan it would be reasonable for her to appeal. The SEND Tribunal could decide if the EHC Plan should be amended. That is not a decision we could take and so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. It is unlikely we could add anything to the Council’s response, and it is reasonable for Miss X to use her appeal rights if she wants to challenge the content of her child’s EHC Plan.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman