Surrey County Council (25 009 988)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 25 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s action in response to a safeguarding referral about a private school. We are unlikely to find any significant Council fault in its actions which has caused Mrs X an injustice.
The complaint
- Mrs X says the Council failed to properly consider her safeguarding referrals about School Y.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X’s child, B, attended private School Y. B has an Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) which is maintained by another council.
- Mrs X reported to the Council that School Y had not in her view adequately kept B safe.
- The Council said the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate had carried out an inspection and made recommendations. It says the Council’s school relations team visited School Y and discussed the concerns with the head teacher. It says Mrs X’s concerns do not qualify for a Local Authority Designated Officer’s (LADO) involvement.
- We are unlikely to find significant Council fault which has caused Mrs X any personal injustice. The Council gained suitable information to decide whether the LADO should be involved. Its decision it should not is a judgment call it is entitled to make. School Y is a private school. And the school’s inspectorate has been involved.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault which has caused Mrs X any personal injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman