The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a school named in her child’s Education Health and Care Plan. This is because she has appealed the decision to a tribunal.
The complaint
Mrs X complains that the Council named an unsuitable school in her child’s 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.
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 Mrs X’s complaint about the contents of her child’s EHC Plan, including the school named. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have appealed to a tribunal. I cannot investigate the actions of the Council during Mrs X’s appeal because this is a matter for the SEND Tribunal and not the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has appealed the Council’s decision to a tribunal
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman