Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about how the Council spent money to obtain childcare services. This is because the matter has been subject to court proceedings, and we do not consider that the complainant is suffering from any outstanding personal injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr C, complains that the Council provided funding to a nursery for it to provide education for his daughter and other children, despite the nursey being closed.

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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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered Mr C’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I sent a draft version of this decision to Mr C and considered the comments he made and additional information he provided.

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What I found

Free Early Education Entitlement

6. The Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) is a central Government scheme funded through councils. The scheme provides up to 15 or 30 hours per week of free childcare for children aged 2, 3 or 4 years old until they reach compulsory school age.

What happened

7. In June 2020, the Council made a payment to a nursery for it to provide education under the FEEE scheme for children in the area, including Mr C’s daughter. However, the nursery closed, and no such education was provided.
8. Mr C says he asked the Council to arrange for the funding to be transferred to a different nursery, which it initially agreed to do, but later refused.
9. Mr C contacted the school and asked for it to refund the payment to him. It refused, so Mr C made a claim to the small claims court. Mr C’s claim was successful, and he was awarded the payment plus costs.
10. Mr C complains that the Council should not have made any payments to the nursery, without first checking if it had the appropriate insurance in place to open. Mr C also says the Council incorrectly referred to government guidance when it explained to him why it did not arrange to transfer the funding to a different nursery. He says the Council should have obtained legal advice before reaching this conclusion.
11. Mr C says the Council should pay him the legal costs he incurred pursuing the matter through the courts. He says the Council should also peruse the nursery to claim back taxpayers money it paid for other children to attend.

Assessment

12. I cannot investigate Mr C’s complaint. This is because the matter has been considered in court and the law does not allow us to investigate anything that has been subject to legal proceedings.
13. Furthermore, when assessing complaints, we must consider if the events have had an adverse impact on complainants, we refer to this as ‘injustice’. In this case the courts awarded Mr C the payment for the services which he did not receive plus costs. For this reason, I do not consider there to be any outstanding significant personal injustice to Mr C.
14. Finally, Mr C feels the Council should seek to reclaim the money it paid to the nursery for other children’s FEE. However, this does not personally affect Mr C to any significant degree. Any potential costs involved will fall on the public, but we cannot, by law, investigate complaints about issues which affect all or most of the people in a council’s area.

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Final decision

15. I cannot investigate this complaint. This is because the matter has been subject to court proceedings. Furthermore, there is no remaining significant personal injustice to Mr C.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman