Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to name a school in an Education, Health and Care Plan which the complainant says could not meet their child’s needs. This is because the complainant has used their right of appeal to the tribunal and an investigation into the complaint would overlap with the role of the tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council named an unsuitable school in her child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. She says this is because the Council did not consider getting new assessments to find out their needs.
2. She says the Council’s actions forced her to incur the costs of taking the matter to a tribunal. She complains the Council’s actions during the tribunal process meant the costs were even greater.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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

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

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My assessment

8. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision. This is because she has already appealed to the tribunal about the school named in the plan. By law, this places all matters which relate to the EHC Plan outside our jurisdiction. This includes Mrs X’s complaint about the information and assessments the Council chose to rely on in reaching this decision.
9. We also cannot investigate any complaint about the Council’s conduct as part of Mrs X’s appeal to the Tribunal. This is because it overlaps with the Tribunal’s role. 

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal. The case is therefore outside of our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman