Bracknell Forest Council (25 015 276)
Category : Other Categories > Commercial and contracts
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to commission a provider who delivers alternative provision. Mr X has an alternative legal remedy through the courts and given the circumstances of his complaint, it is reasonable to expect Mr X to take court action to resolve his dispute.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s decision not to permit his company as a provider of alternative special educational needs provision. Mr X says the Council’s decision has cost him financially and has caused injustice to a family that preferred to use his services. He wants the Council to reconsider and to be significantly recompensed.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains the Council’s due diligence checks, which informed the decision refuse his company, were flawed.
- Mr X has the right to take court action if he feels his company has lost money because of the Council’s actions. There might be some cost to court action, but that does not automatically make taking court action unreasonable.
- Only the courts can Council order the Council to pay make an award for Mr X’s losses at the sum he seeks; we cannot. Therefore, for these reasons it is reasonable to expect Mr X to use the right to go to court. So we will not investigate this complaint.
- In any case we can only consider a complaint about a lack of available provision for a child, from the persons who are directly affected, which is not Mr X in this instance.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has an alternative legal remedy and it is reasonable to expect him to take court action.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman