Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate Ms T’s complaint that the Council failed to act against a pupil who was allegedly bullying her child. This is because we have no power to investigate the internal management of schools nor the Council’s response to a complaint about such matters.

The complaint

1. Ms T complains her child’s school and the Council did not act against a pupil who was allegedly bullying her child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
4. The courts have decided we cannot investigate the consequences of a decision if investigation of the decision itself was excluded by Schedule 5 or s26(6) Local Government Act 1974. R (on the application of ER) v CLAE and London Borough of Hillingdon [2014] EWCA Civ 1407 and R(M) -v- CLAE [2006] EWHC 2847.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the information Ms T provided with her complaint and her comments on a draft of this decision.

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What I found

6. Ms T says her child was bullied at school. She says the Council offered her child a place at an alternative school. Ms T says neither the school nor the Council acted against the pupil alleged to be carrying out the bullying behaviour.
7. Ms T says she complained to the school and the Council but is unhappy with the way her complaint was dealt with.
8. The Ombudsman cannot investigate how a school manages its pupils’ behaviour and cannot investigate how a Council decides to deal with complaints about such behaviour.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint because we have no power to investigate the internal management of schools nor the Council’s response to a complaint about such matters.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman