The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to specify Ms X’s child’s special educational needs correctly in an Education Health and Care Plan, and unnecessarily forcing her to go through with a contested hearing at the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. The matters complained of are not separable from those before the Tribunal.
The complaint
Ms X said the Council failed to specify her child’s special educational needs (SEN) in an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She said it then forced unnecessarily to go through a contested Tribunal hearing, which increased her costs.
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
Ms X’s child’s SEN were decided by a SEND Tribunal. The content of the child’s EHC Plan was for the SEND Tribunal to decide. Even though the SEND Tribunal’s decision was to order the provision Ms X wanted, that does not allow me to consider the Council’s actions in not including the provision, or in proceeding to the Tribunal.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the matters complained of are not separable from those where Ms X used her right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman