Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to deliver the provision outlined in her child’s Education, Health and Care plan. This is because Mrs X has used her right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council is not providing her daughter, Y, with the education and therapy outlined in her Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. Mrs X also complains about poor communication.
2. Mrs X says this is having a significant impact on Y, who is missing therapeutic care, and on Mrs X, who is funding a private tutor and therapist.

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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. 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.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Parents who want to challenge decisions about the content of an EHC plan have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions. Mrs X has used her right of appeal.
9. The law is clear that we cannot investigate a complaint, or anything closely linked to the complaint, if a parent has appealed to a tribunal. This includes the content of the EHC plan where this was part of the appeal. This exclusion applies from when the appeal rights arose to when the Tribunal issued its decision. We cannot consider Mrs X’s complaint.

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Final decision

10. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because Mrs X has used her right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman