Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the review of an Education, Health and Care plan. We cannot achieve the outcome the complainant is seeking. The Tribunal can decide whether the plan meets a child’s needs and amend the plan. It would be reasonable to expect the complainant to raise an appeal to obtain the outcome they are seeking.

The complaint

1. Miss B complained the Council failed to progress her son, Mr C’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan review. Further she says it failed to send her a hard copy of the draft to allow her to see the amendments the Council had made.
2. She says this resulted in her being unable to make comments and Mr C having an EHC plan that does not support his needs.

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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 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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 the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Mr C has an EHC plan. Miss B complains the Council delayed the review and issuing of a draft EHC plan. She says she asked the Council to send the draft plan in an alternative format, but the Council failed to send her a copy before it finalised the new EHC plan. She feels that this has led to Mr C having an EHC plan that doesn’t meet his needs. She would like the EHC plan to be amended and for the Council to arrange regular meetings for her with the school.
10. We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome she is looking for. The outcome Miss B is seeking can only be obtained through the Tribunal.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because we cannot achieve the outcome she is looking for.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman