Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to secure educational provision for the complainant’s child. The complaint has already been substantially upheld and our intervention would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council failed to secure appropriate educational and special educational provision for her child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s child has an Education Health and Care plan, which was issued in September 2025. Mrs X complains that the Council subsequently failed to secure provision for her child, resulting in a period when she was not accessing education. She says this had a detrimental impact on her daughter’s wellbeing, and her own. The Council has accepted that it was at fault but Mrs X says it has failed to provide an appropriate remedy.
6. The complaint correspondence demonstrates that the Council directed two schools to offer a place to Mrs X’s child in September and November 2025. It accepts that it failed to secure appropriate education between September and January 2026, and that its communication with Mrs X was flawed.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. It has already been substantially upheld. That being the case, our intervention would amount to reinvestigation of matters which have already been determined. The financial remedy totalling £2600 is broadly in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance and is a reasonable and proportionate outcome in the circumstances of the complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because investigation would not lead to a different outcome

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman