Summary: We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s education welfare action because the Court has considered the case. We also cannot investigate a school’s action.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, says a school and a Council officer have slandered her, and the Council should not have taken school attendance action against her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
4. We have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X says she withdrew her child from school three years ago. This followed, she says, an incident and a school letter which she says defamed and slandered her.
8. In early 2021, the Council’s Education Welfare Officer (EWO), contacted Miss X as part of the Council’s duty to establish if a child is receiving a suitable education. As part of that process Miss X says a school again slandered her. The EWO action ended up with a criminal court hearing in which Miss X was found guilty and fined. Miss X complains about the EWO actions.
9. We cannot investigate the school’s actions including the content of any letter or statement it provided in this case.
10. We cannot investigate the information the EWO gave a court.
11. We cannot investigate the same issues or events the Court considered and decided.
12. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to have told the Court her views on why the proceedings should not have been taken.

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Final decision

13. We cannot investigate Miss X’s complaint because a Court considered and decided the events she complains of, and we cannot investigate the school’s action.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman