Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council assessed her child for an Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because it was reasonable for Mrs X to appeal to the Tribunal if she disagreed with the content of the Plan.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained the Council failed to consult a Sensory Occupational Therapist when it assessed her child for an Education, Health and Care Plan (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 contends the Council failed to properly assess her child’s needs when it did not seek advice from a Sensory Occupational Therapist. Any flaws in the assessment process would impact on the content of the final EHC Plan.
8. Parents who are unhappy with the content of an EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. We cannot change the content of an EHC Plan, only the Tribunal can do this.
9. We will not therefore investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because it was reasonable for her to appeal to the Tribunal if she wanted to challenge the content of her child’s EHC Plan. An appeal could have given Mrs X the outcome she wanted – an investigation by the Ombudsman could not.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it was reasonable for her to appeal to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman