The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to complete Miss X’s son Education Health and Care needs assessment properly. This is because Miss X has appealed to a tribunal.
The complaint
Miss X complains that the Council finalised her son's Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan without proper consultation, named a school she had formally rejected, and falsely stated that she preferred to homeschool. Professional evidence supporting a specialist placement was ignored, and the Council failed to consider her amendments.
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 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
I cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has used her right of appeal against the contents of the EHC Plan to the SEND Tribunal.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because she has appealed to the SEND Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman