Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the school named in an Education Health and Care Plan. Miss X has appealed to a Tribunal about the matter and therefore the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate the remainder of her complaint about how the Council handled her complaint because the tests in our assessment code are not met.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the school named in her child’s (Y) Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
2. Miss X also complained the Council handled her complaint poorly.
3. Miss X said the matter caused distress and impacted on Y’s education.

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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. 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)
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 investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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 complained about the school named in Y’s EHC Plan. She said Y’s current school could not meet Y’s needs.
11. Miss X appealed to the Tribunal about this.
12. As outlined in paragraph five, we cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a Tribunal about the same matter.
13. Miss X also complained about how the Council handled her complaint and how it communicated with her.
14. As we cannot investigate the substantive matters of the complaint, we will not investigate the Council’s handling of the complaint because it is not proportionate to do so.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has appealed to the Tribunal about the same matter and therefore the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate the remainder of her complaint because the tests in our assessment code have not been met.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman