Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the school handled a safeguarding matter regarding a child in his care and how it breached confidentiality during the complaint. This is because the law prevents us from investigating matters about what happens in a school including the Council’s involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about how the school handled a safeguarding matter regarding a child in his care. He also complains that the school breached confidentiality during the complaint he raised about the safeguarding matter. Mr X says the school should be reported to the Local Authority Designated Officer for how it managed the safeguarding matter. In addition, he would like the school to acknowledge it breached confidentiality.

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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 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))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint which included information from the Council. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on the draft version of this decision.

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What I found

6. In September 2018, Mr X raised a safeguarding matter with the school. Mr X said he had concerns with how the school handled the matter, the lack of action it took and how the school governors conducted the investigation in response to his complaint.
7. Mr X complained to the school which led him to submit an appeal as he was dissatisfied with the outcome of his complaints. In March 2021, Mr X’s appeal took place. The panel was satisfied with how the investigation was conducted by the school governors and did not uphold Mr X’s appeal.
8. Mr X said before his appeal took place, the governors support service breached confidentiality. He said they had disclosed information about his appeal to the governing body who was the subject of his complaints. Mr X believed the governors support service acted irresponsibly, illegally and compromised the processing of his complaint. Mr X complained to the Council and it did not uphold his complaint. It could not find evidence which indicated that the governors support service acted irresponsibly, illegally and compromised the processing of Mr X’s complaint.

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Analysis

9. Mr X complains about matters which happened in the school. As outlined in paragraph three, by law we do not have the authority to consider complaints about what happens in schools.
10. We also cannot investigate the Council’s involvement in those school matters. This includes the administration it carries out for governing bodies such as in this case for the appeal and any following complaints.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the law prevents us from investigating matters about what happens in a school including the Council’s involvement.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman