Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with matters concerning her child’s Education Health and Care Plan. This is because an investigation by the Ombudsman would not add to the one carried out by the Council.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that the Council delayed responding to her request for mediation in relation to her child’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. Ms X also complains about poor communication by the Council about its consultation of schools.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In September 2024, Ms X requested mediation to discuss the contents of her child’s EHC Plan. Ms X contacted the Council after no response was received. In February 2025, the Council initially said that it had not received the mediation request in September, but that it was refusing Ms X’s request.
6. I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. Whilst the Council did initially say that it had not received Ms X’s request for mediation in September 2024, it has now accepted that it had been received, has apologised for the error and explained to Ms X why it does not consider mediation to be appropriate. Further investigation into this matter would not achieve a different outcome.
7. I will not investigate how the Council communicated with Ms X. Whilst poor communication can cause a certain level of frustration, I do not consider that this alone has caused Ms X a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because doing so would not add to the one carried out by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman