Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her request it issue her child with an Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council has offered an appropriate remedy for the initial delay, and an investigation would not achieve anything more. Miss X has now appealed to The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). That places much of the complaint outside our jurisdiction and we cannot consider complaints about what happens in schools.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, complained about the Council’s handling of her request it issue her child with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Miss X says the Council failed to reach a decision in line with the required timescales. Miss X is unhappy the Council has refused her request and how it reached its decision. Miss X says her child’s current school cannot meet their needs and she has now appealed to the Tribunal.

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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 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
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.
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.
7. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Miss X asked the Council to assess her child for an EHC Plan on 24 February 2025. The Council had until 16 June to issue a refusal. It eventually did this on 12 September – around three months late. The Council referred to a shortage of Educational Psychologists and offered a £500 payment.
11. In cases like this we consider a remedy of £100 for each month of delay to be appropriate. We will not therefore investigate the delay issue. The Council has offered a suitable remedy for the delay and our involvement would not achieve anything more.
12. Miss X is unhappy the Council has refused to issue her child with an EHC Plan and how it reached its decision. Parents who want to challenge such a decision have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. Miss X has used her right of appeal.
13. The law is clear that when a parent has appealed to a tribunal, the matter appealed, or anything closely linked, are outside our jurisdiction. In this case we are barred from looking at the decision not to issue an EHC Plan and how it was reached. We also cannot look at most complaints about what happens in schools and the education Miss X’s child is currently receiving. We have no discretion in these matters and so we will not investigate her complaint.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because the Council has offered a suitable remedy for the delay. We cannot consider complaints about what happens in schools and Miss X’s appeal to a tribunal places the rest of the complaint outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman