Summary: We will not investigate Miss Z’s complaint about the Council refusing to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment. It was reasonable for Miss Z to appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

The complaint

1. Miss Z complained the Council refused to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment for her child. Miss Z questioned how the Council made its decision.
2. Miss Z said this caused distress and has led to a lack of educational support for the child.
3. Miss Z wants the Council to properly consider her complaint, provide a written explanation about how it met its legal duties when considering her request, confirm that officers involved in the decision are appropriately trained, and for the Council to acknowledge its failures.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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

7. I considered information provided by Miss Z and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Parents who are unhappy with a council’s decision not to assess their child for an Education Health and Care Plan have a right of appeal to the Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions.
10. The Council has provided us with evidence which shows it advised Miss X of her appeal right to the Tribunal when it declined to assess her child in early July 2025. The Council repeated this advice to Miss X when it declined to consider her complaint about the same matter in late July 2025.
11. If Miss Z wanted to challenge the Council’s decision not to assess her child, then it was reasonable for her to appeal to the Tribunal. This is because the Tribunal has the power to order a council to assess a child. That is not something we can do in the Tribunal’s place.
12. Miss Z says the Council should not have refused to investigate her complaint. In doing so it said this is because she had a right of appeal to the Tribunal. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss Z’s complaint because it was reasonable for her to appeal to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman