Suffolk County Council (23 011 358)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 22 Nov 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alleged failure of the Council to implement recommendations agreed after it resolved a complaint by Mrs X. The matters complained of relate to other families, and there is not enough evidence of personal injustice to Mrs X to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- Mrs X said the Council failed to implement recommended improvements to its service following a complaint by her.
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:
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X’s complaint to the Council was about an alleged failure to implement the agreed service improvement recommendations resulting from a complaint she made to the Council. These concerned the conduct of child in need assessments and communications with parents.
- The complaint correspondence Mrs X provided showed her complaint was about the experiences of other families since her complaint, not her own experiences.
- Any other families with whom Mrs X is in contact who wish to complain to us would be welcome to do so provided they have first completed the Council’s complaint process.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of injustice to Mrs X caused by fault to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman