North Yorkshire Council (25 003 719)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Sep 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s conduct during the SEND Tribunal’s process. This is because the law says we cannot investigate matters which the SEND Tribunal can address using its own powers.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained the Council failed to adhere to the SEND Tribunal process including:
- failing to send her a working document; and
- failing to attend a Tribunal hearing.
- Mrs X said the matter caused her frustration and distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- In R (on application of Milburn) v Local Govt and Social Care Ombudsman & Anr [2023] EWCA Civ 207 the Court said s26(6)(a) of the Local Government Act prevents us from investigating a matter which forms the “main subject or substance” of an appeal to the Tribunal and also “those ancillary matters that may fall to be decided by the Tribunal…such as procedural failings or conduct which is said to be in breach of the [Tribunal] Rules, practice directions or directions or that is said to be unreasonable…”.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s conduct at the SEND Tribunal. Because the issues raised are about what happened during an appeal to the SEND Tribunal, the law says we cannot investigate. It is for the SEND Tribunal to manage these matters under its own powers.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the law says we cannot investigate matters which the Tribunal can address using its own powers.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman