The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the school named in her daughter’s Education Health and Care Plan. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to appeal to a Tribunal to challenge the content of the Plan.
The complaint
The complainant, Mrs X, complains about the Council’s decision to name her daughter’s current school on her amended Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it concerns the educational placement listed in Section I of the EHC Plan and this carried a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal which it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to use.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman