Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the content of an Education Health and Care Plan. Mrs X has appealed to the Tribunal about this matter and so the law says we cannot investigate.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council named a mainstream setting in her child’s (Y) Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This was despite the setting raising concerns it could not meet Y’s needs.
2. Mrs X said the matter caused significant distress to her family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mrs X complained about the setting named in Y’s EHC Plan. Mrs X said the Council named a mainstream setting despite the setting raising concerns it could not meet Y’s needs.
9. Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision-making to name this setting.
10. Mrs X also complained to the Tribunal about the same matter.
11. As outlined in paragraph four, we cannot investigate a complaint where a person has also appealed to Tribunal about the same matter.
12. I have considered whether there is any part of Mrs X’s complaint we could consider, separately from the Tribunal proceedings. However, Mrs X’s complaint is too closely related to the proceedings and so we cannot investigate.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has appealed to the Tribunal and so the complaint is outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman