Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 and how it applied statutory guidance to ensure Miss X’s child could attend a funded nursery place. This is because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to apply statutory guidance to ensure her child could attend nursery. Miss X says her child’s funded place at nursery was withdrawn due to an administrative delay by His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), even though she says she reconfirmed her eligibility on time. Miss X says the Council failed to exercise its discretion and honour the grace-period provisions or meet the duties of the provider agreement. She says the Council also ignored her Equality Act 2010 rights and safeguarding risks. Miss X wants the Council to issue an apology, pay compensation, reinstate her child’s funded entitlement and reimburse all charged childcare fees.

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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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council acted on information provided by HMRC, which stated Miss X had failed to provide the information it requested to assess her application before the Autumn Term deadline.
6. The funded nursery place for Miss X’s child was withdrawn because HMRC confirmed funding would stop due to the delay in Miss X providing the information needed.
7. Miss X complained the Council failed to exercise its discretion and honour the grace-period for the Autumn Term. The Council explained to Miss X she had already used her Grace Period during the Summer Term. Therefore, she could not be considered for a further Grace Period according to HMRC rules.
8. Miss X has raised a complaint to HMRC. The Ombudsman cannot investigate the actions of HMRC.
9. Miss X complained the Council ignored her Equality Act 2010 rights. We cannot find that an organisation has breached the Equality Act. However, we can find an organisation at fault for failing to take account of its duties under the Equality Act. The Council accepted Miss X’s request for reasonable adjustments and adapted how it replied to her complaint, so we are unlikely to find fault.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find fault in the Councils actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman