Milton Keynes Council (25 021 010)
Category : Children's care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Jan 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about how the Council has dealt with her complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault with its decision to suspend its investigation.
The complaint
- Miss X complains that the Council has failed to complete its investigation at stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
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 the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Under a previous complaint, the Council agreed with the Ombudsman that it would escalate Miss X’s complaint to stage two of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
- The Police has since started an investigation into allegations of harassment of Council staff by Miss X. The Council has decided to suspend its investigation into Miss X’s complaint until the outcome of the Police investigation is known.
- I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint at this time. This is because there is no evidence of fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate her complaint whilst the Police investigation is in progress. Regulation 8 of The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 says councils can refuse to consider a complaint if to do so could prejudice an ongoing criminal investigation.
- Miss X may wish to resubmit her complaint to the Council once the Police investigation has concluded. We will not consider the issues raised within the complaint until the complaints process has concluded.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman