Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council completing actions agreed with the Ombudsman. This is because it is unlikely we would find evidence of fault by the Council causing injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr J complains the Council:

• took almost 4 years to issue an apology to him that was part of an agreed remedy following a previous complaint to the Ombudsman; and
• did not provide evidence that its staff had received the agreed training.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I read the complaint, the Council’s responses and information we have from the previous complaint. I considered comments made by Mr J in response to the draft decision.

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What I found

4. Mr J complained to the Ombudsman about the Council failing to identify a safeguarding issue and an investigation took place which found fault. A remedy was agreed in May 2017 that the Council would apologise to Mr J, allow a new appeal of a School transport issue, make a procedure change and complete training with its relevant teams.
5. The Ombudsman’s records show we were satisfied the Council had completed the actions in September 2017. We no longer have copies of documents to confirm this as they were deleted after 12 months according to our retention policy.
6. Mr J says he did not receive the apology until January 2021 after making repeated requests and has not received proof the necessary training took place.
7. The Council says it thought it had apologised but cannot locate the letter as the officer involved has retired. It issued a further apology and confirmed training has been given to the relevant teams. The records held by the Ombudsman confirm we were satisfied the Council originally completed these actions in 2017.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint because it is unlikely we would find evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman