Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions when his child was removed from a school’s roll. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council. Additionally, some of Mr X’s complaint is late, and there are no good reasons why it could not have been made sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained his child, Y, was removed from their school’s roll without good reason. He said the Council incorrectly advised the school it could remove Y from the roll.
2. Mr X also complained the Council did not do enough to help both of his children once they were out of education.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
8. I considered the Children Missing Education (September 2016) statutory guidance.
9. I considered the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006.

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My assessment

10. In February 2023, Mr X and his family left their home due to personal circumstances. The family moved to a new local authority which meant his children, Y and Z, could no longer attend their schools.
11. Later that month, Y’s school referred Y to the Council’s Children Missing in Education (CME) team. The CME team advised the school it could remove Y from their roll because the law says it can do this when a child has stopped attending school and does not ordinarily live within a reasonable distance of the school.
12. A social worker supported Mr X and his family. Mr X said the social worker visited his family in the February, April and May of 2023. He said they made mistakes and failed to support his family and his children missed education because of this.
13. Mr X complained the move to another local authority was only temporary and so Y should not have been removed from the school’s roll. The Council said it investigated Y’s absence and had information that the family had moved house and did not intend to return to the area. The Council said it was therefore correct to advise the school they could remove Y from the roll based on the information it had.
14. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint the social worker did not do enough to help his family. This part of the complaint is about matters which took place between February 2023 and May 2023 and is therefore late. I have not seen any good reason why it could not have been made sooner.
15. Nor will we investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council gave wrong advice to the school about removing Y from its roll. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation. It appears the Council considered the information available to it at the time and correctly applied the relevant legislation and guidance.
16. Although I accept Mr X disagrees with the Council’s decision, The Ombudsman cannot question or criticise the outcome of a council’s decision provided the council has acted without fault in making it.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr’s X complaint. The complaint about his children’s social worker is late. Investigation into the remaining issues is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman