Who are the LGSCO / LGO

The LGSCO (sometimes called by their old name LGO)?

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is an independent organisation that looks into complaints about councils and adult social care providers. It’s free to use and acts as a final step if someone feels a local authority hasn’t handled something properly.

How They Can Help with SEND Problems

If a parent or carer has gone through their local council’s complaints process and still feels things haven’t been resolved fairly, the LGSCO can step in. They can investigate issues like:

Delays in assessing a child’s needs or issuing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
Failure to provide support that’s written into an EHC Plan.
Poor communication or lack of transparency from the council.
Unfair treatment during the SEND process.

If they find the council has made mistakes, they can recommend:

An apology.
Compensation (e.g. for missed education).
Changes to how the council handles similar cases in future.

What They Can’t Do

There are limits to what the LGSCO can look at:

They can’t investigate complaints about schools (e.g. how a school delivers support).
They can’t change decisions about what goes into an EHC Plan — that’s for the SEND Tribunal.
They won’t look at cases that are already being dealt with by a court or tribunal.
They don’t handle complaints about private education or health services.

When to Contact Them

You should only go to the LGSCO after you’ve tried the council’s complaints process. If you’re not sure whether your issue is something they can help with, they have a helpline and online tools to guide you.