Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s conduct at a mediation meeting because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the conduct of a council officer at a mediation meeting regarding her daughter, Y’s, education, health and care (EHC) Plan. Ms X also complains about the way the Council handled her complaint about the matter.

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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 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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.

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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. I have considered the record of the mediation meeting provided by Ms X. It highlights the disagreements between Ms X and the Council regarding what provision should be included in Y’s EHC Plan. Ms X is of the view the council officer came unprepared to the meeting.
9. We will not investigate this complaint because it is unlikely to lead to any worthwhile outcome. We could not reach any view about what mediation might have achieved and we could not make any recommendation about the provision needed. If Ms X remained unhappy with the contents of the EHC Plan after mediation, it was reasonable for her to use her right of appeal to the Tribunal.
10. We will also not investigate how the Council dealt with Ms X’s complaint as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation into the Council’s conduct during mediation. If Ms X remained unhappy with the content of her child’s EHC Plan, it was reasonable for her to use her right of appeal to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman