Royal Borough of Greenwich (24 022 736)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 21 May 2025

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council handled a Local Authority Designated Officer referral and the school’s actions following this. This is because we have not seen any evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

The complaint

  1. Mrs X complains the Council did not fully investigate an incident that happened at school and wants an independent investigation into the event.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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 (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
  2. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by Mrs X.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

  1. Mrs X raised concerns that a member of staff pushed her daughter at school, causing her harm.
  2. The School’s Safeguarding Officer reviewed the incident and examined the video footage. They referred the matter to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for screening. The LADO spoke to the school about its investigation and viewed the video footage but decided the case did not meet the threshold for further investigation. The LADO did raise concerns about the staff member’s professional conduct, so referred the matter back to the school to provide further training and guidance to the staff member involved.
  3. Mrs X raised a complaint to the Council regarding the LADO’s actions. After reviewing the incident, the Council concluded that the LADO made the correct decision, as the threshold for significant harm had not been met. The Council advised Mrs X to contact the school directly if she remained dissatisfied with any actions taken following the complaint response.
  4. I have found no evidence of fault by the Council that would justify further investigation. The LADO considered relevant information before reaching their decision that the threshold for further involvement had not been met. In the absence of fault we cannot question the merits of that decision.

Back to top

Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint as there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Print this page

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings