Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to complete an Education, Health and Care needs assessment of his child, Y. This is because Mr X used his right to appeal to a Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council refused to conduct an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment of his child, Y, and forced him to appeal to a Tribunal.
2. Mr X said the matter caused him distress and impacted him financially.
3. Mr X wants the Council to acknowledge its decision was wrong and to reimburse his legal fees.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council refused to conduct an EHC needs assessment of his child. This is because Mr X used his right to appeal the decision to the SEND Tribunal. Where someone has appealed to a Tribunal about a matter, the law says the Ombudsman cannot investigate the same matter.
10. We also cannot investigate Mr X’s complaints about legal fees. This is because the SEND Tribunal has wide ranging powers to award costs as part of its process. The law says where a Tribunal has powers under its own jurisdiction to consider a matter, even if that matter was not considered at the time, the Ombudsman cannot investigate. Therefore, we cannot consider this matter.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because he used his right to appeal to a Tribunal, and the law says we cannot investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman