The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint after a school said it could no longer meet his child’s needs. This is because the complaint is made late. I will not investigate the Council’s decision to name a new school and the provision in place following this decision. This is because it is reasonable for Mr X to have used his right of appeal to a tribunal.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council failed to properly deal with the review of his son Z’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan and failed to ensure suitable full time education provision was being met following a school deciding it could not meet Z’s needs in March 2023.
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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) 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) 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.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X’s son’s primary school decided it could no longer meet his needs in March 2023. The Council named a secondary school in Z’s EHC Plan for the start of the 2023/2024 school year.
I will not investigate the actions of the Council in March 2023, when the school said it could no longer meet Z’s needs. These events happened too long ago and I see no good reason why a complaint could not have been brought to the Ombudsman sooner.
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the contents of the final EHC Plan issued by the Council including the school named. Mr X had a right of appeal against this decision, and it would have been reasonable for him to have used that appeal right. I cannot investigate the education provision in place for Mr X’s son following the Council’s decision to name that school as it is not separable from that right of appeal
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of the complaint is made late and part concerns matters that had a right of appeal to a tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman