The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about a school that the complainant’s child attends. This is because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about what happens in schools.
The complaint
Mrs X complains about how the Council has dealt with her concerns about her child’s school. Mrs X says the school’s decision to have a dog residing on its grounds is impacting her child’s education as they have an extreme reaction to dogs. Mrs X wants the dog to be removed from the school grounds.
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 most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), 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 SEND 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 Mrs X’s complaint. The issue raised in her complaint is about the school’s decision that a dog will be present in the school grounds. We have no jurisdiction to investigate complaints about what happens in schools.
Mrs X’s son has an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan and a final plan was issued after the school made the decision to obtain the dog. However, the Council made the decision that the school could meet her son’s needs and named it in Section I of the final EHC plan. If Mrs X disagreed with the Council’s decision that the school could still meet her son’s needs, it would have been reasonable for her to have appealed that decision to the SEND Tribunal.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating what happens in schools.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman