Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council failed to organise alternative educational provision for Miss X’s child while they were out of school. The complaint is closely linked to tribunal proceedings, and the law says we cannot investigate.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to organise alternative education for her child (Y) while they were out of school.
2. Miss X said the matters have caused distress and frustration.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
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 Tribunal in this decision statement.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Y is a child of secondary school age. In March 2025 the Council made a final Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan for Y naming a mainstream school in section I.
9. Miss X was dissatisfied with the content of the final EHC Plan including the named school in section I and appealed to the Tribunal. Miss X wants Y to attend a special school.
10. Y stopped attending school full-time around March 2025. Miss X complained the Council failed to provide alternative educational provision for Y while they were out of school.
11. The available evidence suggests Y’s non-attendance in school is closely linked to Miss X’s dissatisfaction with the named school in Y’s EHC Plan. Miss X said both her and the school agreed it is not suitable to meet Y’s needs.
12. 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.
13. This means that if a child or young person is not attending school, and we decide the reason for non-attendance is linked to, or is a consequence of, a parent or young person’s disagreement about the special educational provision or the educational placement in the EHC Plan, we cannot investigate a lack of special educational provision, or alternative educational provision.
14. For this reason, we cannot investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

15. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is too closely linked to Tribunal proceedings and the law says we cannot investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman