Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to have appropriate oversight of the school the complainant’s son attended, and failed to complete a review of his Education Health and Care plan during his attendance. Her complaint about matters before 2024 is late and there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to consider it now. There is insufficient evidence of fault on the Council’s part in 2024 causing the complainant injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council failed to have appropriate oversight of the school which her son attended between 2020 and 2024, and failed to complete a review of his Education Health and Care (EHC) plan during the period.

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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, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)

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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. Mrs X’s son has special educational needs and an EHC plan. From 2020 to 2024 he attended a specialist school. Mrs X withdrew him from the school after a meeting in August 2024. She says this was due to safeguarding concerns and unmet needs.
8. Mrs X complains that the Council did not complete a review of her son’s EHC plan between 2020 and 2024. She says that, as a result, she was disadvantaged in her efforts to ensure the school made reasonable adjustments for her son’s disabilities. In response to her complaint, the Council says the EHC plan was reviewed during the period but that the required notification letters were not issued. It has apologised for this fault.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The complaint about matters which took place between 2020 and 2023 is late. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. There are no grounds for us to consider matters which took place before 2024 and we will not do so.
10. Turning to the events of 2024, the correspondence shows that Mrs X made the Council aware that her son’s EHC plan had not been reviewed. It reviewed it and issued a new EHC plan, giving Mrs X the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). This is an appropriate response to Mrs X’s concerns.
11. The Ombudsman can take no view on whether the failure to issue an amended EHC plan earlier in 2024 had the effect of disadvantaging Mrs X in her efforts to secure reasonable adjustments. Whether reasonable adjustments were appropriate was a matter for the school and, as such, falls outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. Investigation could not find that fault on the Council’s part caused the injustice Mrs X claims. Our intervention is not therefore warranted.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about matter before 2024 because it is late and there are no grounds to consider it now. There is insufficient evidence of fault in 2024 causing the complainant injustice to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman