Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an Education, Health and Care Plan. Part of the complaint is late and there is no good reason for us to consider it now.

We cannot investigate part of the complaint because the complainant has used her right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and the Courts have decided that the Ombudsman cannot intervene where the right to appeal has been used.

We will not investigate part of this complaint as an investigation would not add anything significant to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains her child has not had a full-time education for several years. She says the Council delayed an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and did not ensure her child’s special educational needs were met. She says this has caused her and her family distress.

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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. 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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

9. Mrs X says her child has not had full-time education for a number of years. She says the school made adjustments to the child’s timetable as they were struggling to attend school due to anxiety and unmet needs.
10. Mrs X says her son has not had full-time education for a number of years. Matters prior to January 2025 do not fall to be investigated as the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to consider them now.
11. Mrs X applied to the Council for an EHC needs assessment in early 2024. The Council refused this and Mrs X appealed the decision. This did not progress to a tribunal hearing and the Council’s decision was upheld during mediation. Mrs X used her right of appeal and by law, we cannot investigate this part of the complaint.
12. In May 2025, Mrs X requested another EHC needs assessment. The Council carried this out and agreed to issue an EHC plan. The EHC plan was issued 17 weeks later than the statutory deadline. The Council has acknowledged this delay and offered Mrs X a remedy.
13. Mrs X says the Council did not give due regard to its Section 19 duties in ensuring her child received a full-time, suitable education. The Council acknowledged during its complaints process that between May 2025 and September 2025, the child did not receive a full-time education and offered Mrs X a remedy.
14. The Council has investigated Mrs X’s complaints and provided her with a reasonable and proportionate response. It has offered Mrs X a financial remedy. We will not criticise the Council’s remedy as it is broadly in line with what the Ombudsman might recommend for the matters we are not barred from investigating. We will not investigate these matters as an investigation by the Ombudsman would not add anything significant to the investigation by the Council.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. Part of the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to consider it now. Part of the complaint relates to a matter about which Mrs X has used her right of appeal to the Tribunal. Investigation would not add anything significant to the response the Council has already made to the complaint and is not therefore warranted.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman