What the Ombudsman can and can't look at
Yes, but only for council maladministration – delay, or failure to deliver EHC plan support – and only after you exhaust the council's complaints process. Decisions you can appeal go to the SEND Tribunal instead. That dividing line is the whole answer, and it comes from the law: the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is barred from investigating anything that carries a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal (section 26(6) of the Local Government Act 1974).
So a refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment, a refusal to issue a plan, the wording of Section F (the support), or the school named in Section I are all Tribunal matters, not Ombudsman matters. The right to appeal those comes from section 51 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The Ombudsman's lane is the things you can't appeal: a council that takes months past the legal deadline, a plan whose support simply isn't being delivered, annual reviews that never happen, a complaint that got brushed off.
The two gates you have to pass first
Before the Ombudsman will look at your complaint, two conditions have to be met. First, you must have exhausted the council's own complaints procedure and received its final response – the Ombudsman is the step after the council, not instead of it. Second, you must normally complain within 12 months of realising the council got something wrong. The Ombudsman can use discretion on the time limit, but don't rely on it; treat 12 months as the deadline.
Where to find this in one place: the Ombudsman's own SEND factsheet sets out the free service, the final-response gate, the 12-month limit, and the Tribunal bar. Reading it before you complain saves you being bounced for going to the wrong place.
Comparing the two routes
| Ombudsman (LGSCO) | SEND Tribunal |
|---|---|
| Council got something wrong (maladministration) | Council made a decision you disagree with |
| Delay, undelivered Section F, missed reviews | Refusal to assess, refusal to issue, content of B/F, named school (I) |
| Complain within 12 months; council final response first | Appeal within 2 months; mediation considered first |
| Free; can recommend an apology, a remedy, a payment | Free; can order the council to assess, issue, or amend the plan |
Roughly 25,000 SEND appeals were registered in the 2024/25 year, and of the cases decided, 99% went the parent's way. If your issue is an appealable decision, the Tribunal is usually the stronger lever – and most appeals need a mediation certificate first (section 55 of the Children and Families Act 2014). For the Ombudsman route, start with the council's own complaints procedure; you can't reach the Ombudsman until that's done.
One thing on the horizon, not the present: the 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose changes to the SEND system, including a new Individual Support Plan. None of it changes the law today – current EHC plans and the routes above stay in force, with no changes to EHCP support beginning before September 2030.
Where the law comes from
- Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman: special educational needs factsheet
- Local Government Act 1974, section 26 (tribunal-appeal bar)
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 51 (right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal)
- Children and Families Act 2014, section 55 (mediation certificate required before appeal)
- Tribunal statistics quarterly, July to September 2025 (MoJ/HMCTS)
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.