Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council delayed completing her child’s Education Health and Care needs assessment. This is because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council delayed completing her child’s Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.

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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.

(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 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. The Council received a request for an EHC needs assessment for Mrs X’s child in January 2021. It made the decision not to carry out an assessment which Mrs X successfully appealed to the SEND Tribunal. The Council then made the decision not to issue an EHC Plan, which Mrs X again successfully appealed. The Council issued a final EHC Plan in October 2024, and Mrs X has appealed the contents to the SEND Tribunal.
8. I cannot investigate the Council’s decisions which Mrs X appealed. This is because the law prevents us from investigating matters that have been appealed to a tribunal.
9. There was delay outside of the appeals process, partly down to a shortage of Educational Psychologists. The Council apologised to Mrs X and offered to make a payment to her for the distress this caused her and a further payment for the distress caused by its handling of her complaint.
10. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about delays completing the EHC needs assessment outside of the SEND Tribunal appeals process. This is because doing so would not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome. The Council has apologised for the issues Mrs X has raised and made payments that are appropriate in the circumstances and in line with our guidance on remedies for distress.
11. We have recently upheld other complaints about delays with the Council completing EHC needs assessments and we are satisfied that the Council is taking steps to resolve this issue, so do not consider that any further recommendations would be necessary regarding this point. 

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman