Isle of Wight Council (25 006 069)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to communicate effectively with Miss X regarding her child’s placement. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to result in a different outcome.
The complaint
- Miss X made several complaints about the Council including failure to communicate and unprofessional conduct.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X made several complaints to the Council regarding its management of her child with special educational needs’ placement. Amongst other things she said the Council failed to communicate properly with her and was unprofessional in some of its conduct.
- The Council partially upheld the complaint and invited Miss X to provide specific examples of her concerns. It told her it would review its staff training with her comments in mind and provided her with a contact to use regarding her child’s case officer.
- Miss X remains unhappy with the Council’s actions and wants us to find the Council at fault. The evidence shows the Council has upheld most of Miss X’s complaint points and offered suitable remedies. The Council has provided explanations for its actions and confirmed it will be implementing Miss X’s feedback in its staff training. These were reasonable actions for the Council to take. An investigation would be unlikely to result in a different outcome.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to result in a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman