Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Education, Health and Care Plan process for her son. Mrs X’s appeal to the Tribunal places much of the complaint outside our jurisdiction. An investigation by the Ombudsman would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response about the rest of Mrs X’s complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). Mrs X says the Council has not properly considered her views or followed the proper process for producing an EHC Plan. This has left her child without the support they need. Mrs X says communication from the Council has been poor and inaccurate.

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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 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)
4. 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.
5. 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 could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. We will not start an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint.
9. Parents who are unhappy with the content of their child’s EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. The law is clear that when a parent has used their right of appeal, we have no powers to consider the matter appealed or anything closely linked.
10. Part of Mrs X’s complaint relates to the content of her child’s EHC Plan and how the Council decided it. Mrs X says the Council did not take into account her views. Mrs X used her right of appeal to the Tribunal. This places the content of the EHC Plan appealed, and anything closely linked, such as the decision-making process, outside of our jurisdiction. We have no powers to consider this part of Mrs X’s complaint.
11. Mrs X is also unhappy with some of the correspondence received from the Council. This includes the Council having seemingly decided not to amend her child’s EHC Plan before it had received all consultation response. Mrs X says the Council misrepresented the powers of an SEN placement panel and the tone of its emails was dismissive.
12. While I recognise Mrs X’s concerns about the above, we will not investigate this part of her complaint. The Council has responded to Mrs X’s complaint and explained its position. Investigation by the Ombudsman would be unlikely to add anything worthwhile or achieve a different outcome. This is especially the case given that Mrs X appealed the EHC Plan at the heart of this complaint to the Tribunal for a decision.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because Mrs X has appealed to the Tribunal. An investigation would not add anything to the Council’s response about the rest of her complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman