Summary: Mr X complained the Council did not provide the provision set out in his child’s Education Health and Care Plan. Mr X said this caused his child to miss education and caused him avoidable distress. We have ended our investigation because we cannot investigate matters which can be considered by a Tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council did not provide the provision set out in his child’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
2. Mr X says this has caused his child to miss education and has caused him avoidable distress.

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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 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)
5. 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.
6. 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. (R (on application of Milburn) v Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman [2023] EWCA Civ 207)
7. This means that if a child or young person is not attending school, and we decide the reason for non-attendance is linked to, or is a consequence of, a parent or young person’s disagreement about the special educational provision or the educational placement in the EHC Plan, we cannot investigate a lack of special educational provision, or alternative educational provision.
8. The period we cannot investigate starts from the date the appealable decision is made and given to the parents or young person. If the parent or young person goes on to appeal then the period that we cannot investigate ends when the Tribunal comes to its decision, or if the appeal is withdrawn or conceded. We would not usually look at the period while any changes to the EHC Plan are finalised, so long as the council follows the statutory timescales to make those amendments.

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How I considered this complaint

9. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

11. Mr X complains the Council did not provide the education provision detailed in Y’s EHC Plan from October 2024. Mr X initially appealed the named placement in the Plan and later extended the scope of the appeal for the Tribunal to also consider the suitability of the provision set out in the Plan. The Tribunal considered both matters in October 2025.
12. Before appealing to the Tribunal, Mr X removed Y from the school roll. I am satisfied any missed provision from October 2024 to the end of my investigation in October 2025 is directly linked to matters in Mr X’s appeal to Tribunal. As I have explained above, if we decide a child not accessing education is linked to the disagreement about the special educational provision in the EHC Plan, we cannot investigate a lack of special educational provision, or alternative educational provision. For this reason, I have ended my investigation into this complaint.

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Decision

13. I have ended my consideration of all parts of Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate matters connected to a Tribunal appeal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman