Leicestershire County Council (24 013 774)
Category : Education > Special educational needs
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Jan 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Mr Z’s education provision. This is because the complaint is made late, and I see no good reason to exercise discretion and consider it now.
The complaint
- Miss X complains about how the Council dealt with her brother Mr Z’s education provision from June 2020 until June 2023.
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 late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a government minister. 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)(b), 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 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
- I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The issues she raises happened more than 12 months ago, and I see no good reason why she could not have asked the Ombudsman to consider the matter sooner.
- Even had Miss X complained sooner it is unlikely we could have considered most of the issues raised. This is because they concern the Council’s decisions surrounding the Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process and those decision carried a right of appeal that it would have been reasonable for Miss X to have used.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is made late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman