Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of the Education Health and Care Plan and the Council’s actions in producing the plan. This is because Mr X has appealed to a tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X, complains about six main issues relating to the Education Health Care (EHC) Plan:

• The educational psychology assessment was inadequate.
• The Council failed to consider professional reports.
• Therapeutic provision was wrongly classified as healthcare instead of educational.
• The Council refused to carry out a reassessment.
• Reasonable adjustments were not made for his son’s needs.
• The Council’s complaint handling.

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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. 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 Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. I cannot investigate this complaint because it concerns the contents of an EHC Plan for which Mr X has exercised his right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. We cannot investigate the assessment processes itself, because the claimed injustice is that the EHC Plan does not meet Mr X’s child’s needs, which is the subject of the appeal. Secondly, because the Tribunal has wide powers itself to order reports be completed.
8. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

9. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because Mr X’s complaint relates to the content and the procedures leading to his son’s EHC Plan. Mr X has used his right to appeal to a tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman