Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the conduct of two council officers. This is because it is unlikely we could add anything to the Council’s response.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Miss X, contacted the Council about a nursery place for her son. Miss X is unhappy with the conduct of two officers she dealt with. Miss X says the officers were unhelpful and rude. Miss X is unhappy with the Council’s response to her complaint and that her application for a nursery place has been refused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

3. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We cannot investigate most complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(2), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. In its responses to Miss X the Council has confirmed the information the two officers gave her via email was correct. Both officers had been spoken to but there were different versions of events regarding the phone calls. These were not recorded and so the Council could not uphold Miss X’s complaint.
8. We will not start an investigation into Miss X’s complaint. This is because it is unlikely we could add anything to the Council’s response. We could not reach a safe conclusion about what happened. We also have no powers to consider complaints about what happens in schools, and so we cannot secure a place in Miss X’s preferred nursery. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by an investigation.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we could not add anything to the Council’s response or achieve anything more.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman