Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council delayed in issuing her child’s final education, health, and care plan, and that the final plan does not meet her daughter’s needs. This is because her complaint is out of jurisdiction. In addition, an investigation would not lead to any further findings or outcomes.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council delayed in issuing her child’s final education, health, and care plan and that the final plan does not meet her daughter’s needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone has a right of appeal, reference or review to a tribunal about the same matter. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to use this right. (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 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 impact 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council held an annual review in May 2024. The Council should have notified Mrs X of its decision regarding whether it proposed to maintain, amend, or cease the EHC plan within four weeks of the annual review meeting. The Council acknowledged it failed to do this but did advise Mrs X it intended to amend the EHC plan in June 2024.
8. The Council should have issued the final amended EHC plan by the end of July 2024. However, the Council did not issue the final plan until September 2024. The Council acknowledged it had delayed in issuing the final plan and apologised to Mrs X for this. Therefore, an investigation is not justified as it would not lead to any further findings or outcomes.
9. Mrs X complains about the content of the final EHC plan. In particular, she is unhappy about the amount of support hours allocated to her child. Any dispute over the special educational need provisions set out in the EHC plan is a matter Mrs X can appeal to the SEND Tribunal. I am satisfied it is reasonable for her to use her right of appeal. Therefore, we cannot investigate this complaint matter as it is outside our jurisdiction.
10. Finally, we will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her complaint because we are not investigating the substantive complaint matters.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because her complaint is out of jurisdiction. In addition, an investigation would not lead to any further findings or outcomes.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman