Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his safeguarding concerns and its refusal to amend the minutes of a Child in Need meeting. There is insufficient evidence of fault and an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his safeguarding concerns related to his child and that it has refused to amend the minutes of a Child in Need meeting held in July 2025. He says the matter has caused distress and uncertainty as to whether his child is being appropriately safeguarded at school. He wants the Council to amend the meeting minutes and appropriately safeguard his child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complains the Council has not acted to fully investigate an incident related to his child in June 2025 or to ensure his child is appropriately safeguarded at school. We will not investigate this. The Council investigated the incident at the time. It wrote to Mr X to explain the outcome and what action the school was taking to ensure his child was safeguarded. This is what we would expect. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
6. In its complaint response the Council said it would not amend the minutes of the Child in Need meeting as it considered them to be an accurate record of the meeting. It agreed to add his meeting notes to its records as an addendum. We will not investigate this. We could not require the Council to amend the minutes as Mr X wants and the Council’s agreement to add his meeting notes to the record is an appropriate response to his concerns. It is unlikely an investigation would lead to a different outcome or achieve anything more.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. There is insufficient evidence of fault and it is unlikely an investigation would lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman