Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an Education, Health and Care Plan. This is because Mrs X had the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and it would be reasonable for her to do so. We also cannot investigate issues about the internal management of a school.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council did not properly set out the provision her child needs in Section F of his Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. She also says the school has failed to deliver the provision in the EHC plan and meet his needs. She wants the Council to make Section F more specific and arrange a different school placement.

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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 most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)
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 Mrs X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X says the Council has failed to provide the provision in Y’s EHC plan. She also says that her child needs a specialist setting and the EHC plan does not include the recommendations of Educational Psychologists.
9. Parents who are unhappy with the content of an EHC plan have a right of appeal to the Tribunal. It is the mechanism set up by Parliament for parents to challenge such decisions.
10. The Council finalised Y’s EHC plan on 28 January 2026. It said the concerns Mrs Y had raised were best considered at the Tribunal.
11. We will not investigate this complaint. Mrs X had a right to appeal the content of the EHC plan, including the provision in Section F and the named placement, to the Tribunal. It would have been reasonable to expect Mrs X to use her right of appeal to the Tribunal.
12. Mrs X also says the school has failed to explain how teaching assistant support is used and complains about the actions of school staff. These are matters of the school’s day-to-day management. We cannot investigate complaints about the actions of schools.
13. Mrs X also complains about the Council’s communication. If we are not investigating the subject matter in a complaint, we will not usually investigate separately the way an organisation communicates. This is because it does not usually cause significant enough extra injustice than the underlying matter to warrant it. That is the case here.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint because Mrs X had the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and it would be reasonable for her to do so. We also cannot investigate issues about the internal management of a school.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman