Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (21 003 571)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 10 Aug 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of his daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan as he has a right of appeal to SEND Tribunal.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council has dealt with his request for clarification on how it reached decisions about his daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) as a complaint. Mr X says the Council has been needlessly obstructive and as a result of dealing with his correspondence as a complaint he has missed out on an opportunity to appeal the EHCP.
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 and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council wrote to Mr X on 19 January 2021 with its decision on his daughter’s EHCP. The letter was accompanied by information about mediation and Mr X’s right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal as well as the timescales involved.
- It was Mr X’s choice to write to the Council for clarification. He was aware of his right to ask for mediation and his right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal as well as the timescales. I consider it was reasonable to expect him to pursue these if he was unhappy with his daughter’s EHCP. Therefore, we cannot investigate this complaint.
- I understand that Mr X is unhappy with the way the Council handled his complaint. However, we will not investigate how a Council has handled a complaint where we cannot investigate the substantive matter complained of. In this case the provision set out in his daughter’s EHCP.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he had a right of appeal to SEND Tribunal and it was reasonable to expect him to use this right.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman