Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled his child’s registration of death and burial. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council acted unlawfully when it recorded some details incorrectly on his child, Y’s, death certificate and headstone.
2. Mr X says this is a hate crime and it has impacted on the religious and cultural beliefs of him and his family. He wants senior Council staff to be found guilty of gross misconduct, the records amended and an investigation into what went wrong.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate criminal matters.
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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (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. Following the death of Mr X’s child, Y, his ex-wife registered the death and arranged the funeral. The death certificate and headstone contained details which were different to those on Y’s birth certificate.
8. Mr X complained to the Council. He said that if the registrar had checked Y’s birth certificate, they would have realised the details were incorrect.
9. The Council responded and said checking details against the birth certificate was not part of the legal procedures. Instead, the registrar would confirm details were correct with the person registering the death. The Council said it did not have the power to compel someone to change the inscription on a headstone. However, if instructed by the coroner, it would amend the details on the death certificate.
10. We will not investigate this complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. It is the responsibility of the person registering the death, in this case Mr X’s ex-wife, to ensure details are recorded correctly. Therefore, this is fundamentally a private dispute between the two parties.
11. If Mr X believes the Council has committed a hate crime he should report the matter to the Police as it is a criminal offence. We cannot look at criminal matters.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman