Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr A’s complaint that the decision of the Local Authority Designated Officer was material to his son’s school’s decision to decline to consider his complaint against staff. This is because we would be unable to find that the injustice Mr A claims results from the actions of the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr A, complains that the decision of the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) was material to his son’s school’s decision to decline to consider his complaint against staff.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mr A has said in support of his complaint and in response to my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mr A says staff at the school his son attended bullied his son. He made a formal complaint to the school which was considered under its complaints procedure.
6. Mr A says the school’s complaint panel declined to investigate the actions of staff. He contends that the LADO’s view that the issues raised did not meet the threshold for intervention was material to the school’s decision, and that the LADO was at fault in recaching this view and in communicating it to the school.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr A’s complaint. The law prevents us from investigating what happens in school, so we cannot investigate the events which led Mr A to complain or whether they caused an injustice to his son, as Mr A asserts.
8. The law does not permit the Ombudsman to investigate the way the school considered Mr A’s complaint. Mr A’s recourse in this matter is to complain to the Secretary of State for Education. That being the case, we cannot consider whether the LADO’s decision had any bearing on the outcome, and would not be able to make a finding that Council’s action had the effect of causing Mr A the injustice he attributes to it.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because we would be unable to find that the injustice Mr A claims results from the actions of the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman