Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to disclose a recording or transcript of a telephone call and the Council’s apology because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable for us.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has not disclosed the recording or transcript of a telephone call. She complains about an apology offered by the Council.

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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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms X complains about a telephone call she made to the Council in 2023 to ask for help. Ms X was a child at the time.
6. Ms X’s grandmother made a complaint to the Council. The Council responded at all three stages of the children’s complaints process. This included an independent investigation and complaint review panel. The investigation was unable to make a finding about the telephone call because the recording and transcript were no longer available. At the conclusion of the complaints process in July 2024, the Council said it would write to Ms X to apologise for the fact the recording and transcript of the telephone call were no longer available.
7. Ms X is represented by an advocate from NYAS, the National Youth Advocacy Service. Her advocate took up the matter with the Council in September 2025. Ms X received an apology from the complaints manager. The Council confirmed the recording and transcript of the telephone call are no longer available.
8. At Ms X’s request, her advocate complained to us. She says Ms X is very upset and traumatised by how the telephone call was handled by the Council and now feels she is not being believed. She says Ms X wants a sincere apology from the service which took the telephone all, and a copy of the recording or an explanation of why it is not available.
9. I do not underestimate Ms X’s distress or the frustration she has experienced pursuing her complaint. However, we will not start an investigation because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable for us. The Council says the recording of the telephone call is no longer available. We cannot, therefore, achieve the main outcome Ms X wants which is a copy of the recording. Ms X’s advocate asks why the recording is no longer available and questions whether the Council has complied with data retention requirements. This is something she could take up with the Information Commissioner. It is not something we will investigate.
10. Ms X is unhappy with the apology from the complaints manager. She remembers who took her call and, I think, wants an apology from that person or the service they work for. We investigate complaints about the Council as a corporate body, not individual officers. An apology from a specific officer or service is not an outcome we would pursue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable for us.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman