Summary: We cannot investigate Mr Y’s complaint the Council named an unsuitable school placement in his child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because Mr Y has appealed to the SEND Tribunal about the same matter. Will not investigate Mr Y’s other complaints because they are premature.

The complaint

1. Mr Y’s child, Z, has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mr Y complains the Council:
1. named an unsuitable school, School A, in Z’s final EHC Plan issued February 2025;
2. consulted School A in July 2024, but failed to send him the school’s response until April 2025; and,
3. failed to meet the statutory deadline for issuing a draft EHC Plan.

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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 SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. We cannot investigate Mr Y’s complaint about the Council’s decision to name School A in Z’s EHC Plan. Mr Y has already appealed to the SEND Tribunal about this issue. Mr Y says the school told the Council, during consultations, that it could not meet his needs. The alleged fault in the Council’s decision-making is directly linked to Mr Y’s appeal. We have no power to look at any complaint that overlaps with a SEND Tribunal appeal.
9. Mr Y’s complaints about the Council failing to promptly send him the outcome of School A’s consultation and delays in issuing a draft EHC Plan are premature. These issues were not raised in his complaint to the Council from May 2025. Mr Y may raise these matters with the Council. If he remains unhappy with its response, it is open to Mr Y to make a new complaint to us.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mr Y’s complaint the Council named an unsuitable school placement in his child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because Mr Y has appealed to the SEND Tribunal about the same matter. Will not investigate Mr Y’s other complaints because they are premature.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman