Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to change the Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal lead for her case. This is because the issue concerns the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s appeal and if she has concerns about any information provided by the council officer it would be reasonable to expect her to raise her concerns with the Tribunal

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council did not change the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) tribunal lead for a tribunal hearing when she asked it to.

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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 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.
4. 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).

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Mrs X raised concerns about the tribunal lead with the Council, saying they were not good at their job and dishonest.
8. The Council said Mrs X’s allegations were unsubstantiated and it would not change the tribunal lead.
9. If Mrs X believes the tribunal lead had been dishonest or provided inaccurate information that could affect the outcome of the tribunal case, she could or should have raised this with the Tribunal during the hearing. It would then be for the Tribunal to decide whether to accept the Council’s evidence or question it further. We cannot decide whether the tribunal lead’s involvement affected the outcome of Mrs X’s appeal, and we have no power to overturn its decision. We also cannot say the Council should have allocated a different officer to the case as it is not our role to determine staffing decisions.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it would be reasonable for her to raise any concerns she has about the Council’s handling of her appeal and the accuracy of any information it provides, with the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman