Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the quality of an educational psychologist report. Miss X has a right of appeal to a Tribunal and it would be reasonable to expect her to use it.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about an Educational Psychologist (EP) and the report they wrote during an Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment. Miss X said the EP was unprofessional, ignored key information and did not liaise with other professionals.
2. Miss X said this led to her child’s (Y) EHC Plan not being fit for purpose

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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. 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 the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X complained about the EP who carried out the report during Y’s EHC Needs Assessment.
9. Miss X said the EP report led to Y’s EHC Plan not being fit for purpose. This is because the provision set out in section F was not sufficient to meet their needs.
10. There is a right of appeal to the Tribunal against a council’s description of a child or young person’s SEN and the special educational provision specified in an EHC Plan.
11. It would be reasonable to expect Miss X to use this right of appeal. The right is set out in law and only the Tribunal has powers to either order another EP report, or for the Council to amend the EHC Plan. The Ombudsman does not have those powers.
12. For this reason, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it would be reasonable for her to complain to the Tribunal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman