Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (21 003 018)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s portage service. This is not warranted by the claimed injustice, and we could not add to the investigation already carried out by the Council.
The complaint
- Mr X said the Council excluded him as a non-primary parent from involvement with its portage service (a service for pre-school children with special educational needs and their parents) by not telling him of his son’s referral, failing to make a call as promised, not offering him a home visit and making excuses for what went wrong when he complained.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:
- any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council accepted it had not involved Mr X when it referred his son to its portage service and afterwards. It accepted this was not correct when he complained. The matter was not prolonged, with the Council confirming it would act to prevent a repeat in other cases. Though Mr X remains dissatisfied, and the arrangements for a meeting offered by the Council are still disputed, further investigation is not warranted by the alleged injustice, and we could not add to the Council’s investigation or achieve more.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because investigation is not warranted by the claimed injustice, and we could not add to the Council’s investigation or achieve more.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman