Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide the provision outlined in an Education, Health and Care plan. This complaint is late and there is no good reason to investigate now. Nor can we investigate a complaint about the plan as the complainant had a right of appeal and it was reasonable to expect them to use it. We will also not investigate a complaint about the disclosure of the plan as it would be reasonable to expect the complainant to refer this to the Information Commissioners office.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to:
• Ensure his daughter, Miss Y, received the provision outlined in her plan while at school,
• Name a suitable college for Miss Y to attend,
• Remove Miss Y from the register when Mr X asked, and
• Breached Miss Y’s data when it released her plan to a college.
2. Mr X says this has prevented Miss Y from progressing academically and achieving any qualifications. He says the offer of a course was withdrawn from Miss Y after the college received the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan incorrectly.

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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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
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.
7. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
8. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered information provided by the complainant.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints. Mr X contacted us in September 2025. He raised concerns about the provision provided to Miss Y when she attended school between 2016 and June 2024. This complaint is late and there is no good reason for us to investigate this now. Mr X was aware of concerns about the provision and could have contacted us sooner.
12. Parents who are unhappy with the setting named in an EHC plan or the decision to maintain an EHC plan have a right of appeal to the tribunal. The law provides a specific right of appeal for Mr X’s concerns around Miss Y’s plan, and it would have been reasonable to expect him to use this.
13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s breach of Miss Y’s data. We would normally expect this to be referred to the Information Commissioner, and I see no good reason for us to investigate this. We could not conclude that any data breach affected whether Miss Y remained on a college course. Nor could we achieve the outcomes Mr X is looking for and there would be no worthwhile outcome from our investigation.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of the complaint is late, it would have been reasonable for Mr X to use his right of appeal to the tribunal, and there is another organisation better placed to consider the remaining complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman