Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to address her daughter’s educational and social care needs. Part of the complaint is late and there is no good reason to consider it now. Part of it relates to matters which have been subject to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), or are related to such matters, and cannot therefore be investigated.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains that the Council failed to address her daughter’s educational and social care needs between 2019 and 2025.

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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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
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. In R (on application of Milburn) v Local Govt and Social Care Ombudsman & Anr [2023] EWCA Civ 207 the Court said s26(6)(a) of the Local Government Act prevents us from investigating a matter which forms the “main subject or substance” of an appeal to the Tribunal and also “those ancillary matters that may fall to be decided by the Tribunal…such as procedural failings or conduct which is said to be in breach of the [Tribunal] Rules, practice directions or directions or that is said to be unreasonable…”.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. Ms X complains that the Council has failed to address and meet her child’s educational and social care needs between 2019 and 2025. Specifically, she says her child’s school failed to make reasonable adjustments to ensure her child was able to access education and failed to secure appropriate alternative provision when she was unable to do so. She also says it failed to respond reasonably to her Subject Access Requests.
10. Ms X says the Council subsequently issued her child with an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan which named the school her child could not attend, compelling Ms X to take her off roll. She complains that the Council then wrongly refused to accept responsibility for securing educational and special educational provision, causing detriment to her child’s welfare and significant financial loss to herself. She states that the EHC plan put in place in 2025 after the conclusion of her appeal to the Tribunal provides the Education Otherwise Than at School (EOTAS) package she previously provided privately.
11. Ms X also complains that Children’s Services failed to provide appropriate support for her daughter as a Child in Need. She says the Council upheld her complaint about this matter in 2023.
12. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. Ms X came to the Ombudsman in October 2025. The complaint about matters which took place before October 2024 is therefore late. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. There are no good reasons for us to consider these matters now. This includes matters relating to both the Council’s education and children’s services functions.
13. Turning to matters since October 2024, the correspondence shows that the EHC plan issued in 2024 was subject to appeal to the Tribunal. This means it, and matters relating to it, cannot be investigated. We cannot therefore take a view on whether the Council should have made EOTAS provision before it did. There is no discretion available to us on this matter.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. Part of the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to consider it now. Matters from to the point at which the Council issued the EHC plan cannot be investigated because they were subject to an appeal to the Tribunal or are related to such matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman