Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council carried out an Education Health and Care needs assessment for his child. This is because Mr X has used his right of appeal to a tribunal and many of the issues raised are not separable from that appeal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the Council carried out an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for his child.

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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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. 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)
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.
5. We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. The Council carried out an EHC needs assessment for Mr X’s child and issued a final EHC Plan. Mr X has appealed the contents of the EHC Plan to the SEND Tribunal.
9. I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of the EHC Plan, including the provision detailed in the plan and the school named. This is because Mr X has used his right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal, which places the matter outside of our jurisdiction.
10. Mr X complains about how the Council carried out consultations with his preferred school and about information that the Council has provided during his tribunal appeal. I will not investigate these elements of his complaint because they are not separable from the appeal.
11. I will not investigate how the Council communicated with Mr X or how it handled his complaint. I do not consider that poor communication has caused Mr X a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation, and it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
12. Finally, Mr X complains that an NHS Occupational Therapist shared a report without his permission. I cannot investigate this element of his complaint because it is not about an administrative function of the Council.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because Mr X has used his right of appeal to a tribunal and many of the issues raised are not separable from that appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman