Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council has failed to provide suitable education provision for her child. The provision in place after the Council issued its amended Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan is not separable from Mrs X’s appeal to a tribunal. It is unlikely we would find fault with the Council in how provision was met before the EHC Plan was amended.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council has failed to arrange suitable full-time education for her child since January 2024.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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 and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. I cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council has failed to arrange suitable full-time education for her child after from when it issued an amended final Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan in June 2024. Mrs X has appealed the school named in the EHC Plan to the SEND Tribunal. Mrs X and the Council clearly disagree about the suitability of the school named and therefore education provision in place whilst her appeal is being considered is not separable from the appeal itself.
8. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the provision in place prior to the EHC Plan being issued. This is because Mrs X asked the school to place her child on a part-time timetable. It is therefore unlikely we would find fault with the Council.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because provision in place after the Council issued its amended EHC Plan is not separable from Mrs X’s appeal to a tribunal. It is unlikely we would find fault with the Council in how provision was met before the EHC Plan was amended.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman