Leicestershire County Council (25 011 487)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Jan 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about production delays in an Education Health and Care Plan as there is no worthwhile outcome. We cannot investigate why a Council named a school as Miss X appealed to the Tribunal.
The complaint
- Miss X says the Council delayed in issuing a final Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). She says the EHC Plan was inadequate and did not name a suitable school.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council’s reply to her.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X says the Council delayed in producing an EHC Plan for her child. She says it had offered her £100 a month for the delays. This is in line with our guidance on remedies and we are unlikely to achieve more.
- Miss X says the EHC Plan was not acceptable as it failed to name a suitable school. She appealed the EHC Plan to the Tribunal. We cannot investigate issues which the Tribunal could have covered. This includes here, the process which led to the Council naming the school in the EHC Plan.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about EHC Plan delays because there is no worthwhile remedy achievable. And we cannot investigate why the Council named a school in an EHC Plan as Miss X appealed to the Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman