Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to respond to Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s decision not to respond to his complaint about matters which are being considered by a court.

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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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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How I considered this complaint

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

My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about how it dealt with matters about his child.
6. The Council issued a response explaining the issues complained about are the subject of live court proceedings, so it would not deal with the same issues under its complaints process.
7. The Council also explained Mr X can raise any complaints which are not dealt with, or could not reasonably have been dealt with by the court, within 12 months of the conclusion of proceedings.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman