Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (25 020 784)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 25 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an Education Health and Care plan. This is because it would have been reasonable for the complainant to use her right of appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).
The complaint
- Mrs X complains about the Council’s handling of her child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. She says this matter has caused her and her child significant stress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X says her child’s school is unsuitable and unable to meet her child’s needs. She has asked for the Council to consider a specialist setting to be named on her child’s EHC plan as her child is struggling at a mainstream school.
- At the most recent review in March 2025, the Council said there was not enough evidence the child’s needs had changed to justify amending the EHC plan.
- It would have been reasonable for Mrs X to use her right of appeal to the Tribunal if she was dissatisfied with the Council’s decision to not amend her child’s EHC plan.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it would have been reasonable to expect her to use her right of appeal to the Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman