South Gloucestershire Council (21 006 787)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how schools responded to complaints, or about how the Council dealt with a concern about the conduct of a member of staff at one of the schools. This is because we cannot investigate what happens at schools and it is unlikely we would find fault in how the Council dealt with the complainants concerns.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about how schools have dealt with complaints he made, and about how the Council dealt with complaints about the conduct of a member of staff at one of those schools.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6)).
- We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that schools are failing to properly deal with his complaints. This is because we have no jurisdiction to investigate what happens in schools
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council’s Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) dealt with his complaints about the conduct of a member of staff. Having reviewed Mr X’s concerns about the member of staff, I see no fault in the LADO’s conclusion that they did not constitute a safeguarding concern, and would therefore need to be raised directly with the school.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate what happens at schools and it is unlikely, we would find fault in how the Council dealt with the matter.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman