North Northamptonshire Council (25 011 805)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 02 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the school named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). This is because Mrs X appealed to the Tribunal which places the complaint outside our jurisdiction.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the school named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) and the Council’s decision-making process.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint.
- Parents who want to challenge the content of an EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. Mrs X used her right of appeal.
- The law is clear that when a parent has appealed to the Tribunal, the matter appealed, or anything closely linked, are outside our jurisdiction. It includes the setting named and how this was decided. Mrs X’s complaint about the school named in her child’s EHC Plan is not one we can consider.
Final decision
- We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the school named in her child’s EHC Plan as she has appealed to the Tribunal. This places the complaint outside our jurisdiction.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman