Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a penalty notice issued by the Council for unauthorised school absences. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that the Council should not have issued her with a penalty notice for her child’s unauthorised school absences. Mrs X says the Council did not consider relevant information concerning the reasons for her child’s absence and therefore did not make reasonable adjustments, in breach of the Equality Act 2010.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. 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)
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. The Council has issued Mrs X with a penalty notice for her child’s unauthorised school absences. Mrs X says her child’s absences were due to Emotional Based School Avoidance.
8. I will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the actions of the Council because there is insufficient evidence of fault. The Council issued the penalty notices upon being made aware of the unauthorised absence. It fully considered Mrs X’s arguments but concluded there was insufficient evidence to support her claims. In the absence of fault, we cannot question the merits of the decisions made by the Council.
9. I cannot investigate the school’s decision to mark Mrs X’s child’s absence as unauthorised as we have no power to investigate the actions of the school in this regard. Whilst the Council may have provided advice to the school, the decision is ultimately the school’s and not the Council’s.
10. We also cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. However, we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.
11. The Council fully considered the reasons provided by Mrs X for non-attendance and therefore had due regard for her child’s rights under the Equality Act. There is therefore insufficient evidence of fault in this regard.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman