The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal process. The matters complained of are not separable from the conduct of the process.
The complaint
Mrs X said the Council mishandled a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal process. She said it: delayed the appeal by wrongly claiming to be collating reports it never produced; submitted evidence late to the Tribunal; made unsubstantiated allegations against her; and attempted to mislead the Tribunal.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The matters complained of concern the conduct of the SEND Tribunal process.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the principal matters complained of are not separable from the SEND tribunal process
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman