Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council assessed her child’s special educational needs. This is because she has used her right of appeal to a tribunal.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about how the Council carried out an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment for her child. Mrs X says the Council failed to properly consider relevant information when refusing to issue an EHC plan. She wants the Council to reimburse her for privately obtained reports and provide a remedy for missed provision.

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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 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)
4. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability – SEND) 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

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

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My assessment

7. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint that the Council refused to issue an EHC Plan for her child. Mrs X has appealed this decision to the SEND Tribunal. Consequently, the law says we cannot investigate the process by which the decision was made because it is too closely related to the matter appealed.
8. We cannot consider reimbursement of privately obtained advice because this is not separable from the matters before the Tribunal, which has the power to award costs. We also cannot speculate as to what provision should be in place for Mrs X’s child, so cannot recommend a remedy for missed provision.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman