Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to conduct a reassessment of her family member, Ms Y’s needs relating to her Education, Health and Care Plan because she had a right of appeal to a tribunal, and it is reasonable for her to use that right. We will not investigate the Council’s poor communication because the Council already apologised and an investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained of behalf of her family member, Ms Y. Mrs X complains the Council:
1. refused her request to reassess Ms Y’s needs in relation to her Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan; and
2. about the Council’s poor communication.
2. Mrs X said the matter caused her frustration and uncertainty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (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. 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, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Decision not to conduct reassessment of Ms Y’s needs

9. Mrs X asked the Council to reassess Ms Y’s needs for her EHC Plan in June 2025. In August 2025, the Council wrote to Mrs X and told her it would not re-assess Ms Y. The Council sent Mrs X an amended version of Ms Y’s final EHC Plan naming a new education provider in section I.
10. We will not investigate this complaint. The decision not to reassess Ms Y carries a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. The Ombudsman has no authority to instruct the Council to conduct a reassessment of Ms Y’s needs. Only the Tribunal can do this. Consequently, it is reasonable to expect Mrs X to have appealed the decision to the Tribunal, and so we will not investigate.

Poor communication

11. Mrs X complained about the Council’s poor communication. In its complaint response, the Council apologised for this and explained steps it would take to prevent recurrence.
12. An investigation by us is unlikely to achieve anything further, and so we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she had a right of appeal to a tribunal. We will not investigate the remainder because an investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman