Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council concerning Mr X’s special educational needs. Matters between 2018 and 2024 are historic and we could not carry out a robust investigation. Mr X would also have had a right of appeal against a council decision to cease his Education Health and Care Plan in 2024 it would have been reasonable to use if he was still living in its area at that time.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council failed to update his Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan between 2018 and 2025. He said officers failed to attend the annual reviews of the EHC Plan, and sought to cease it. He said Council only agreed to amend his Plan in 2025.
2. Mr X said failures by the council led to him being unable to take GCSE exams at age 16, and to years of trying to catch up lost ground. He said he did not have the correct support until recently, when the Council amended his EHC Plan.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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)
6. 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.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

9. We may investigate matters that happened more than a year before a person approaches us if they were unaware of those matters at the time they happened, or if they were unable to complain to us sooner. But it is often not possible to investigate matters several years old effectively as many staff have moved on. In this case, Mr X would have been aware of most of the matters he complains of more than a year ago. However, his age at the time means we would not have expected him to complain straightaway. Even so, the principal matters he complains of relate to alleged actions or omissions by the Council going back several years. It is unlikely we would be able to reach any robust view about the support Mr X needed or received when preparing for his GSCEs or what happened after that.
10. Matters from May 2024 are different. However, in the council’s final response to Mr X’s complaint, it stated that when it was time for the annual review of his EHC Plan in May 2024, the college he was attending told it he had left England and there was no forwarding address. The correct course of action would have been to write to Mr X’s last known address in England. The Council’s final response stated it did this, giving its intention to cease the EHC Plan. If Mr X was still living at the home address, he would then have had a right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal against the Council’s decision it would have been reasonable to use. He could also have appealed against any alleged failure to include the specific diagnosis of SEN he wanted added. Had he then been living outside England, there would have been no duty for the Council, regardless of whether the letter was passed on.
11. The council’s recent decision following Mr X’s complaint to amend his EHC Plan to include the diagnosis he wishes does not mean investigation by us would be likely to find the Council should have done so sooner. I also note the Council provided Mr X with an alternative contact when he was unable to contact the named SEN officer dealing with his case.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:

• Most of the matters of which he complains date from before 2024 and are late, and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate them now;
• The Council’s decision to cease Mr X’s EHC Plan in 2024 carried a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal it would have been reasonable to use if Mr X were still living in its area; and
• Investigation of the Council’s recent actions would be unlikely to lead to a finding of fault.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman