Summary: Miss X complains about the Council’s response to her complaints about a third party. The Ombudsman will not investigate as we have not seen evidence of fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains about the Council’s response to her complaint about the behaviour of a third party who is a child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.

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What I found

4. Miss X complains the Council will not act on her repeated complaints about the behaviour of a third party who lives nearby.
5. The Council has advised Miss X that because of data protection it cannot confirm or deny it is involved with the third party.
6. The Council has responded to our enquiries. While I cannot disclose any information to Miss X I can confirm that I am satisfied there is no fault in the way the Council considered her complaint.

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Final decision

7. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because we have not seen evidence of fault in the way the Council considered Miss X’s concerns.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman