Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his child’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan, including the content of the EHC Plan. This is because the injustice claimed stems from the content of the Plan and if Mr X disagrees with the Plan, it would have been reasonable for him to appeal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his child, Y’s, EHC Plan. He says the Council failed to meaningfully update the Plan, failed to include crucial details in the Plan, and failed to specify a suitable support provision. He also complains that Y has not been receiving the support they require.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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.
5. 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Mr X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. A child or young person with special educational needs (SEN) may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This document sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC Plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about their needs, or education. Only the tribunal or the council can do this.
9. Mr X’s child, Y, has special educational needs and an EHC Plan. The first EHC Plan was issued in 2021 by a previous council.
10. In 2023, Y changed school because their family relocated into the London Borough of Wandsworth. The Council issued Y with an EHC Plan in 2023. We cannot investigate dissatisfaction with the 2023 Plan. If Mr X disagreed with the content, it was reasonable for him to have appealed to the SEND Tribunal at the time. Furthermore, we normally expect people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem and there is no good reason why Mr X could not have complained to us about the 2023 Plan sooner.
11. A further EHC Plan was issued to Y in 2024. Mr X complains the EHC Plan failed to recognise some of Y’s diagnoses and did not contain all the provisions Mr X felt were necessary to support Y. Consequently, Mr X considered Y was not receiving the support he needed. We cannot investigate this because Mr X had the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal if he disagreed with the content of Section F of the EHC plan. I am satisfied it was reasonable for Mr X to have appealed.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns a matter about which it would be reasonable to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman