The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint that the Council failed to provide suitable full-time education provision for X’s child. This is because X the matter is subject to court proceedings.
The complaint
X complains that the Council failed to provide a suitable full-time education for their child since March 2025. X also complains about how the Council has dealt with their complaints about this matter.
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 or a government minister or started court action about the matter. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6), as amended) The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to provide full- time education for their child from March 2025 to November 2025. This is because we have already previously considered and decided a complaint from X covering this period. We cannot accept repeat complaints about the same issues.
I cannot investigate X’s complaint about a failure to provide their child full-time education after November 2025. This is because X submitted a judicial review about these matters. The law prevents us from investigating complaints where someone has started court action about the same matters.
It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
We cannot investigate X’s complaint because the matter is subject to court proceedings.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman