The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about alleged failings by the Council in Mrs X’s child’s special educational needs provision. There is no good reason to exercise the discretion available to us to consider these late matters now.
The complaint
Mrs X said there were failings by the Council in making her child’s special educational needs provision for 19 months after September 2021.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The complaint is about late matters dating from September 2021 to March 2023. We mat exercise the discretion available to us to investigate late matters in some circumstances. A person may not have been aware of a matter at the time it happened. And a person may not have been able to complain about it.
The correspondence she provided showed Mrs X was aware of the matters she complained of as she complained about them to the Council in November 2022.
The Council’s final response to Mrs X was in March 2023. Although she approached us in January 2024, when the last of the matters she complains of would still have been within 12 months, she did not send us the Council’s final response until May 2024, despite us asking shortly after she contacted us. Mrs X was able to complain to the Council, and to contact the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal about these and similar matters. We also asked her promptly for the Council’s final response, issued 10 months earlier, and this requirement is clear in our published materials. Therefore, I take the view Mrs X could have complained to us sooner about these matters.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman