Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Ms X’s application for free school meal vouchers for her child. This is because we would not achieve a worthwhile outcome by doing so.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council refused her child free school vouchers although they are eligible.
2. She also complained the Council’s process is discriminatory as it does not allow families with children receiving Education Other than At School (EOTAS) to make such an application online.
3. Ms X was seeking a change to the Council’s application process, reimbursement for the free school meal vouchers she did not receive, an apology and compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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. Ms X complained to the Council as it had not issued free school meals vouchers for her child. She also complained that the process had been unfairly complicated for her as she could not apply online because her child receives EOTAS.
8. The Council responded to say it had not refused Ms X’s request. It apologised there had been a delay in responding to her request.
9. It agreed to make a payment backdated to the start of the term and to include the sum due up to the end of the term.
10. The Council also confirmed it is looking into updating its online application process to allow families to apply this was where the child receives EOTAS.
11. The Council’s response is proportionate, and we would not be likely to achieve more than this by investigating the matter further.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we are unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome by doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman