West Northamptonshire Council (21 018 840)

Category : Education > Special educational needs

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 27 Mar 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal process. The matters complained of are not separable from the conduct of the process.

The complaint

  1. Mrs X said the Council mishandled a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal process. She said it:
  • delayed the appeal by wrongly claiming to be collating reports it never produced;
  • submitted evidence late to the Tribunal;
  • made unsubstantiated allegations against her; and
  • attempted to mislead the Tribunal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
  2. 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.

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. The matters complained of concern the conduct of the SEND Tribunal process.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the principal matters complained of are not separable from the SEND tribunal process

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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