Trafford Council (19 019 869)
Category : Education > Alternative provision
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 15 Apr 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a school’s actions or the advice and support the Council gave the school.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council has failed to reply to her complaint that her child, Y, has not received an education.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:
- it is unlikely we would find fault or
- the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- The Courts have said that we cannot investigate a complaint about any action by a council, concerning a matter which is itself out of our jurisdiction. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Mrs X provided with her complaint and the Council’s replies to her which it provided. I considered Mrs X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.
What I found
- Mrs X says her child Y suffered from bullying at their school. Y did not feel able to go to school. Mrs X complained to the school. She says the school received advice and support from the Council.
- Mrs X complained to the Department for Education. She says it contacted the Council. It says it contacted the school and was satisfied there was still a school place open for Y. The Council tried to help in getting Y back into the school. Mrs X said the Council threatened to prosecute Mrs X for Y’s non-attendance at school. Mrs X complained to the Council. She says it has failed in its duty to provide Y with an education.
- The Council says it was satisfied the school had a place for Y and this fulfils its duty to provide an education.
Analysis
- We cannot investigate how the school handled Mrs X’s complaints, has approached educating Y or the way it’s tried to assist in Y feeling more able to attend the school. We also cannot investigate the advice and help the Council gave the school.
- The Council fulfils its duty to provide an education if a child has a place available at a suitable school for them. Mrs X has not disputed the place was and is available. She has confirmed she did not want Y to move schools or be educated anywhere other than the school.
- We cannot investigate how the Council replied to Mrs X’s complaint as we cannot investigate the complaint itself.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate the school’s actions, nor the Council’s advice to it and it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council not providing any alternative education.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman