Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to amend an Education Health and Care plan to include specific provision requested by the complainant. The complainant had the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and it would have been reasonable for her to do so.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council is at fault in refusing to add specific provision to her daughter’s Education Health and Care (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. 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 and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs X’s daughter has an EHC plan. The correspondence she has provided shows that the most recent final EHC plan was issued at the end of May 2025, following annual review. Mrs X says the Council has unlawfully failed to include specific provision because of the absence of a specific professional report.
8. Mrs X has asked the Council to amend the EHC plan to include the provision. It has declined to carry out a further review. Mrs X says the Council’s refusal to amend the EHC plan means it is failing to discharge its legal duties towards her child.
9. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. The complaint concerns the content of an EHC plan, and this is not a matter on which the Ombudsman can express a view. This is because Mrs X had the right to appeal to the Tribunal. The correspondence shows that she was advised of that right.
10. Where appeal rights exist the Ombudsman normally expects them to be used. The Tribunal can decide whether the provision Mrs X wants is appropriate and can substitute an alternative decision. The Ombudsman cannot. Mrs X’s recourse against the Council’s decision to cease to maintain her daughter’s EHC plan was to use her right to appeal to the Tribunal. It would have been reasonable for her to do so. That being the case, the Ombudsman cannot intervene.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it would have been reasonable for her to use her right to appeal to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman