Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about what happened at Mrs X’s child’s school. The law does not allow us to investigate what happens in schools. Nor can we investigate the Council’s decision on what to include in Mrs X’s child’s Education, Health, and Care Plan. Mrs X has used an appeal right on that matter, and the law does not allow us to investigate where an appeal right has already been used on a related matter.

The complaint

1. Mrs X was unhappy with various aspects of her child (Y’s) education provision while at school. She said the Council did not do enough to prevent him coming to emotional and physical harm at school, and was unhappy with how the school represented her own actions.
2. Mrs X also said she was unhappy with the way Y’s school considered his special educational needs (SEN), including the information it used, which formed part of their Education, Health, and Care (EHC) Plan.

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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 most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
5. The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
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 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. Mrs X complained to the Council in April and May 2025, about several aspects relating to Y’s school, their education provision and how the school responded to Y’s SEN, including as part of an EHC needs assessment. In October 2025, the Council issued a final EHC Plan for Y, and Mrs X appealed to the Tribunal about their plan.
11. The Council declined to consider some aspects of Mrs X’s complaint as they related solely to the school’s actions, and it signposted her to make a formal complaint through the school’s complaint procedures. It is unlikely we would find fault in its decision not to investigate some aspects of Mrs X’s complaint.
12. In so far as those parts of the complaint that related to how the school considered Y’s SEN, the Council provided Mrs X with information about how it uses specialist advice across a partnership with other schools, to inform how it responds to a pupil’s SEN, including their social, emotional and mental health.
13. Mrs X disagreed with the methodology of how these assessments were carried out and said the Council should have done more to assess Y’s SEN.
14. We cannot consider this aspect of Mrs X’s complaint. The courts have established that if someone has appealed to the Tribunal, the law says we cannot investigate any matter which was part of, was connected to, or could have been part of, the appeal to the Tribunal.
15. Noting that Mrs X is unhappy with the information and reports, the Council used to inform Y’s EHC Plan and Mrs X has appealed the plan, the law I have referred to at paragraph five, means we cannot consider this aspect of her complaint.

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Final decision

16. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the law does not allow us to investigate what happens in schools, or matters that are related to an appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman