Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the educational placement named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. Ms X has appealed to the SEND Tribunal, so we have no power to do so.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council named an educational placement in her child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan despite knowing it was not suitable for her child. She says this caused distress and has forced her into appealing to the Tribunal. She wants the Council to name an Education Other than at School package in her child’s EHC Plan and provide a remedy for the distress caused.

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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. 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 courts have established that if someone has appealed to the Tribunal, the law says we cannot investigate any matter which was part of, was connected to, or could have been part of, the appeal to the Tribunal. (R (on application of Milburn) v Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman [2023] EWCA Civ 207)
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 SEND 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. The Council issued Ms X’s child, Y, with an Education, Health and Care Plan in July 2025.
9. Ms X says the Council knowingly named an unsuitable educational placement in Y’s Plan, which has prevented him from accessing suitable education that will meet his needs. She has since appealed the named placement to the SEND Tribunal.
10. We cannot investigate this complaint because Ms X has used her right of appeal to the Tribunal. How the Council reached its decision to name the placement is connected to the matters under appeal, so we have no power to investigate this. If Ms X has concerns about how the Council reached its decision, she can raise this with the Tribunal as part of the appeal.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman