Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs B’s complaint that the Council changed the school named in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan during the Tribunal process and its communications with her about this. We cannot investigate matters connected to an appeal or the Council’s conduct during the appeals process.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complains the Council changed the named school in her child, F’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan just before a key deadline during the tribunal appeal process. She also says it did not consider her reasonable adjustments when communicating with her about this matter. She says this has significantly affected her family’s mental health. She wants the Council to pay compensation for the distress caused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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.
4. We cannot investigate a council’s conduct during an appeal. This includes anything a complainant could have raised with the Tribunal at any stage of the appeal, or which the Tribunal has considered on its own initiative, or which could have been a part of the Tribunal’s deliberations in resolving the appeal (R v Local Commissioner ex parte Bradford [1979]) and R (on application of Milburn) v Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman [2023] EWCA Civ 207)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. In March 2025, Mrs B appealed to the Tribunal about the school named in F’s EHC Plan.
7. We cannot investigate Mrs B’s complaint. The law says we cannot investigate if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter or the complaint is connected to the matters under appeal. The Courts have also confirmed we cannot investigate a council’s conduct during an appeal. We cannot therefore investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council’s decision to change the school named in F’s EHC Plan during the appeal process or how it communicated this to her.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Mrs B’s complaint because she has appealed to the Tribunal. We cannot investigate matters connected to an appeal or the Council’s conduct during the appeal’s process.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman