Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an Education, Health and Care plan because the complainant can appeal to the Tribunal. Other parts of the complaint are late.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council has not amended her adult child’s education, health and care (EHC) plan to reflect their needs and ambitions, and that the Council has excluded her parental input.
2. Mrs X also complains the Council failed to deliver provisions within the plan for the previous three years.
3. Mrs X says her child has had no meaningful work experience for several years, and it is impacting their mental health. Mrs X wants to Council to amend the EHC plan.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)
6. 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)
7. 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

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. Mrs X complained the Council had failed to deliver secure NHS work placements for her child, despite it being a named provision in their previous EHC plans. Mrs X’s complaint to us about missed provision is now late, and I have seen no reason why Mrs X could not have brought a complaint to us sooner. So, we will not investigate this element of the complaint.
11. Mrs X complained the Council drafted the latest EHC plan without considering her proposed amendments. Mrs X also complained the draft did not include provision for guaranteeing NHS work placements and did not reflect their current needs.
12. Parents who are unhappy with their child’s EHC Plan have a right of appeal to the Tribunal. We expect parents to use that right unless it is unreasonable for them to do so. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge the educational provision or the setting named in their child’s EHC Plan. When changes to an EHC Plan are not agreed, the Council can still issue the final Plan.
13. We will not investigate this complaint. It would have been reasonable for Mrs X to appeal to the Tribunal if she was unhappy with the provisions in the EHC Plan. This is because the Tribunal can decide if a plan should be amended, we cannot.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to appeal to the Tribunal, and other parts of the complaint are late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman