City of Doncaster Council (25 012 940)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision on a safeguarding matter. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the Council’s response to a safeguarding incident involving his child at school. He says the Council’s consideration was not fair or independent and it did not take sufficient action on identified failings.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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))
- We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council’s safeguarding team gathered information, took account of the lessons learned and next steps planned by the school, and decided to take no further action.
- Mr X is unhappy with this outcome. In particular he wants the Council to recognise mistakes went beyond learning points and amounted to maladministration.
- However, we cannot question the Council’s professional judgement. The Council considered Mr X’s concerns through its complaints process but remained satisfied the school was taking sufficient action. There is not enough evidence of fault in its decision making to justify an investigation by us.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman