Milton Keynes Council (25 011 451)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about children services’ actions. We are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision to not look into Mr X’s complaint. We are unlikely to find the faults alleged, directly caused Mr X any significant injustice.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council has refused to reply his complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to a looked after child, Y.
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:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating; or
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X which includes the Council’s reply to him.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X is the responsible person at a care provider. He complained to the Council about its actions as a corporate person for a looked after child, Z. This included communication issues, frequency and timings of visits and failure to consult Z properly. The Council replied and said Z had an advocate who had complained on their behalf. It said it would not therefore reply to Mr X’s complaint.
- We are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s decision not to reply to Mr X’s complaint. Z has an advocate for their views.
- We are unlikely to find the Council faults he alleges have caused Mr X a direct injustice.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision not to reply in detail to his complaint. And we are unlikely to find fault has caused Mr X direct injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman