Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delay by the Council telling Mr X of the death of the mother of his child. The Council has confirmed that its position opposing contact between Mr X and his child did not change after the death and has not changed. This means Mr X did not lose any opportunity to seek contact, which would always have been available only by approaching a court. There is therefore not enough injustice caused by any fault to warrant investigation by us.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council delayed telling him of the death of the mother of his child. He said this denied him due process. Was abusive, and caused him psychological injuries.

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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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(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. The Council accepted it did not inform Mr X of the death of the mother of his child. It said it was not in contact with either party at the time of the death.
6. Regardless of this, the position with regard to contact between Mr X and his child did not change on the death of the child’s mother. The Council has confirmed that it would oppose any change in current arrangements to allow Mr X contact with his child. This means that Mr X has remained in the same position as before, in that he could only achieve the contact he wants with his child by approaching a court. Therefore, the Council’s actions or inaction caused no injustice to Mr X beyond that which may already have existed as the result of previous court orders. We could not achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking by investigating, as we cannot make recommendations about contact.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough injustice caused by any fault to warrant our involvement. We could not achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking, which could only be achieved by approaching a court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman