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
- 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.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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.
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The matters complained of concern the conduct of the SEND Tribunal process.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the principal matters complained of are not separable from the SEND tribunal process
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman