Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to decline an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment and the delay in providing a decision. This is because it would be reasonable for her to use her right of appeal to a tribunal and there is not sufficient injustice in a short delay to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council has refused to carry out an Education, Health and Care needs assessment and missed the statutory timeframe. Mrs X is also unhappy about the way the case coordinator handled the case and requested a new coordinator.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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.
4. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. In October 2024, Mrs X applied to the Council for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for her son. The Council refused the request in December 2024 and gave information about the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
8. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse to carry out an EHC needs assessment. Mrs X can appeal the decision to refuse the assessment by going to the SEND Tribunal. This is the correct way to challenge the decision and it is therefore reasonable for her to do so.
9. There was a short delay in the Council making its decision not to assess. However, I do not consider this delay caused Mrs X a significant enough injustice to justify our involvement.
10. Mrs X complained to the Council about how the case coordinator handled the matter. She asked for an apology and a new coordinator. The Council apologised but explained why it would not change the coordinator. We will not Investigate this because we cannot give Mrs X the outcome she wants. It is for the Council and not the Ombudsman to decide how staff are allocated to cases.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to decline an Education, Health and Care needs assessment and the delay in providing a decision. This is because it would be reasonable for her to appeal to the SEND Tribunal and there is not sufficient injustice in a short delay to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman