Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to cease to maintain an Education Health and Care plan and thereby end funding for an educational placement. The complainant has the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and it would be reasonable for her to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Miss X, complains that the Council has decided to cease to maintain her Education Health and Care (EHC) plan and the funding of her educational placement without proper consideration.

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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. 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)
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 Tribunal in this decision statement.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Miss X is 22 years old and has an EHC plan. She is represented in making her complaint by her mother, Mrs X. Mrs X says that her daughter has been attending the school named in her EHC plan for 12 years. Mrs X complains that the Council has decided to cease to maintain the EHC plan, meaning the placement will come to an end
8. Mrs X contends that the Council’s decision has been made without proper consideration of her daughter’s needs. She believes more time is needed to ensure a successful transition for her daughter, and wants her to be able to stay in her current placement until she is 25.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The matters about which she complains flow from, or are bound up with, the Council’s decision to cease to maintain the EHC plan. This is not a decision on which the Ombudsman can express a view.
10. Where a council decides to cease to maintain an EHC plan, the young person or their representative have the right to appeal to the Tribunal. Where appeal rights exist the Ombudsman normally expects them to be used. The Tribunal can decide whether the decision to cease to maintain is appropriate and can substitute an alternative decision. The Ombudsman cannot. Where an appeal is made, the council should maintain the provision set out in the EHC plan until the matter is concluded.
11. Mrs X’s recourse against the Council’s decision to cease to maintain her daughter’s EHC plan is to use her right to appeal to the Tribunal. It would be reasonable for her to do so. That being the case, the Ombudsman cannot intervene.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it would be reasonable for her to use her right to appeal to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman