Surrey County Council (24 017 721)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 11-Mar-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council’s officer made false allegations about the complainant’s wife at a meeting. Investigation would not add anything significant to the complaint response the Council has already made and is not therefore warranted.

Sheffield City Council (24 007 094)

Statement Upheld Other 05-Mar-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council incorrectly advised her child’s school how to record their absence. The Council has fully upheld the complaint, apologised and made service improvements. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 015 864)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 26-Feb-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s Local Authority Designated Officer’s handling of several reports of safeguarding incidents involving her child at school. This is because part of this complaint is late. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to justify investigating the most recent incident.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 006 844)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 26-Feb-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s late complaint about the Council’s handling of child protection matters involving Ms Y’s children. This is because the law prevents us from investigating some of the Council’s action where this relates to the content of reports produced for court proceedings. We could not add to the Council’s investigation of Ms X’s complaints under all three stages of the statutory complaints process. We also cannot achieve the outcomes the complainant wants.

London Borough of Wandsworth (24 016 488)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 25-Feb-2025

Summary: We will not investigate part of Mrs X’s complaint about its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 because the injustice claimed is not significant enough to warrant an investigation. We will not investigate another part of the complaint because the Information Commissioner’s Office is better suited to consider the matter. We cannot investigate the final part because it relates to the day-to-day operation of a school, which is outside our jurisdiction.

South Gloucestershire Council (24 005 060)

Statement Upheld Other 24-Feb-2025

Summary: Mrs D complained the Council failed to ensure that a nursery did not charge top up fees for free early education places and did not investigate her complaint properly. We found the sustainability charge was in line with the statutory guidance. There was fault in complaint handling which the Council has already apologised for.

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council (24 016 005)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 20-Feb-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s concerns about the Council’s response to a complaint she made about her child’s school. We will not look at complaint handling as a standalone issue and we have no powers to look at complaints about the internal management of schools.

Buckinghamshire Council (24 019 109)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 18-Feb-2025

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about information shared during court proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about what happened in court.

City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (24 009 853)

Statement Not upheld Other 11-Feb-2025

Summary: We have discontinued the investigation into Mr X’s complaint about unnecessary enforcement action. Enforcement action was a result of the Council pursuing a school attendance issue in court. We could not add anything to the investigation already carried out by the Council, nor could we achieve the outcome Mr X wants.

London Borough of Lewisham (23 020 687)

Statement Upheld Other 10-Feb-2025

Summary: Dr X complained the Council did not consider its section 19 duties when her child was too unwell to attend school. This meant her child was unable to access education. We have found the Council at fault for a delay in providing access to suitable provision after receiving a medical letter. This caused distress, uncertainty and frustration for Dr X and her child. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic financial payment and remind its staff of the Ombudsman’s guidance on how we expect councils to fulfil their responsibilities to provide education for children who do not attend school full-time.