The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because complaints about what happens in schools are outside our jurisdiction. If the complainant wants to challenge the contents of her son’s Education Health and Care Plan, it is reasonable for her to appeal to the SEND tribunal. We will not consider complaint handling on its own.
The complaint
The complainant, Miss X, complained about a lack of support for her son (Y) as he prepared to move from primary to secondary school. Miss X also complained Y had been placed in the wrong group at secondary school, and about the content of Y’s Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Miss X says communication from the Council has been poor.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) considers appeals against council decisions regarding special educational needs. We refer to it as the SEND Tribunal in this decision statement.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Supporting children with the transition from primary to secondary school is mainly a school’s responsibility. It is also for schools to decide which classes children should be taught in. As explained in paragraph 3 we have no powers to consider complaints about what happens in schools. These parts of Miss X’s complaint are therefore outside our jurisdiction.
Miss X now home educates Y. If she is unhappy with the content of Y’s EHCP she can appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is reasonable for her to do this because the Tribunal can recommend changes to Y’s EHCP. This is not something we can achieve. Because it is reasonable for Miss X to use her appeal rights, we cannot consider this part of her complaint.
In its response to Miss X’s complaint the Council accepted there had been problems with communication. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue and an investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because we cannot consider complaints about what happens in schools, and it is reasonable for Miss X to appeal the content of her son’s EHCP to the SEND Tribunal. We will not consider complaint handling on its own.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman