Derbyshire County Council (25 000 154)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 06-Jul-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the cancellation of care shifts by the NHS. This is because the matter complained of is not an administrative function of the Council.

Cheshire East Council (23 016 429)

Statement Upheld Other 03-Jul-2025

Summary: Mrs B complained that the Council failed to take appropriate action to safeguard and promote the welfare of her children. We find there were delays in care planning which likely delayed Mrs B from having unsupervised contact with her children. The Council also failed to respond to correspondence sent on behalf of Mrs B. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs B. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

Birmingham City Council (24 005 304)

Statement Upheld Other 29-Jun-2025

Summary: Ms X complains the Council’s child safeguarding investigation caused her distress. She says the Council failed to consider her concerns properly, dismissing evidence of child abuse and domestic violence from the children’s father as historical. We find fault with the Council for failing to take satisfactory notes of the children’s views for the investigation, and for a late complaint response. We have agreed an apology to Ms X and service improvements for the Council.

Lancashire County Council (25 000 264)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 22-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about information about children changing for PE in primary schools being passed on by the Council. What happens is an internal matter for schools to decide and we are legally prevented from investigating their decisions. The wider issue of what information about this matter is passed on to schools in general is unlikely to create sufficient separable injustice to Miss X or her child to warrant investigation.

Sheffield City Council (24 021 946)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 19-Jun-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the actions of the complainant’s daughter’s school. Such matters are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and the law prevents us from investigating them.

Wakefield City Council (25 000 404)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 19-Jun-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council offering him only programmes for domestic abuse perpetrators rather than a course for male victims or survivors of domestic abuse as this matter could reasonably have been mentioned during court proceedings concerning the care of his child. A permanent legal bar prevents us investigating the complaint.

Milton Keynes Council (24 017 863)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 09-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the decision to issue a fixed penalty notice for his child’s unauthorised absence from school. The authority to issue the notice belongs to a school’s headteacher and the Council’s role is only ancillary to that. We have no powers to investigate the actions of a school and there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

Somerset Council (24 022 197)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 06-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council failed to ensure that the complainant’s daughter was kept safe by her school, and that it produced a flawed report on safeguarding procedures at the school. This is because the complaint primarily concerns the actions of a school and, as such, the law prevents the Ombudsman from considering it.

London Borough of Ealing (24 022 084)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 04-Jun-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the decision to limit the ways in which she can contact her local council. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (24 023 206)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 29-May-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s complaint handling in relation to a school matter. This is because we cannot investigate what happens in schools.