The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to Mrs X’s requests for different special education needs provision for her child. The matters complained of relate to decisions about the child’s needs that have been subject to appeals to a Tribunal, and we cannot consider them.
The complaint
Mrs X says the Council, failed to engage with her and left her child in an unsuitable educational setting. She says the Council ignored the child’s school and an educational psychology report, and delayed matters by not agreeing medication, late submission of Tribunal papers, and not trying to speed up the Tribunal process. She says the Council failed to explain its actions in response to her complaint.
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) 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
Most of the matters in the complaint relate to decisions of the Council about the nature of Mrs X’s child’s special educational needs and the provision and setting required to meet them. Mrs X has twice appealed to the Tribunal since late 2023 about those decisions, with long waits for hearings. We have no authority to consider the Council’s actions in making those decisions, or its performance in response to Tribunal requests. Investigating whether the Council should have acted differently in respect of mediation would be unlikely to lead to any meaningful outcome outside the Tribunal process. And the timing of a Tribunal is not something we have the power to comment on.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it relates to decisions that have been and are subject to the decisions of Tribunals.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman