Summary: We will not investigate Mr X's complaint about the Council’s special education needs team’s actions. We will not get involved with the Tribunal’s actions and it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision to consult the child’s mother.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the way the Council’s special educational needs team managed his child’s case.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint if someone has appealed to a tribunal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
3. 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.
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. The complainant had an opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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My assessment

8. Mr X says that his child, B, has special educational needs.
9. A child with special educational needs may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. This sets out the child’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. The EHC plan is set out in sections. We cannot direct changes to the sections about education, or name a different school. Only the tribunal can do this.
10. There is a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal against a decision not to assess, issue or amend an EHC Plan or about the content of the final EHC Plan. Parents must consider mediation before deciding to appeal. An appeal right is only engaged once a decision not to assess, issue or amend a plan has been made and sent to the parent or a final EHC Plan has been issued.
11. Mr X says he appealed B’s EHC Plan to the Tribunal. He says the Council mismanaged the preparation of evidence for the Tribunal. He says it did not label evidence properly, failed to include the right evidence and did not amend evidence as he requested. He also says the Council included B’s mother in the appeal without his permission.

Analysis

12. We cannot investigate the Tribunal’s actions. It has case management powers for ordering the Council to provide evidence. We cannot get involved in this. Parliament has set out the powers the Tribunal has to enforce compliance with such orders. This includes making an order for costs if the tribunal considers a party acted unreasonably.
13. The Council says B’s mother has parental responsibility and it had to consult her. It is unlikely we would find fault in this decision.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate the Tribunal’s actions and it is unlikely we would find fault in its decision to consult B’s mother.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman