The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council carried out a review of a child’s Education Health and Care Plan. This is because she has used her right of appeal to a tribunal.
The complaint
Mrs X complains about how the Council carried out an annual review of her son’s Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. Mrs X says the Council’s actions led to an inappropriate school being named and that the Council failed to comply with orders by the SEND Tribunal, leading to a delay in her appeal being considered.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal about the same matter. We also cannot investigate a complaint if in doing so we would overlap with the role of a tribunal to decide something which has been or could have been referred to it to resolve using its own powers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended) The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability – SEND) 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
The Council carried out a review of Mrs X’s son’s EHC Plan, and named a school that Mrs X believed could not meet his needs. Mrs X appealed the decision to the SEND Tribunal.
I cannot investigate the contents of the EHC Plan, including the school named. This is because Mrs X used her right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. The Council’s actions and decision making that led to the school being named are not separable from the appeal itself, nor is the education provision in place whilst the appeal was being considered. The actions of the Council during the appeal process were a matter for the Tribunal to consider, not the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal to a tribunal
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman