Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council responded to her allegations a school had harmed her child. It is unlikely our investigation could significantly add to the Council and other agencies’ responses.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, says the Council failed to investigate their safeguarding report about School Y.

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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, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot investigate complaints about what happens in schools. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5, paragraph 5(b), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by 'maladministration' and 'service failure'. I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Mrs X provided with her complaint and the Council’s replies which is provided. I considered Mrs X comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

6. Mrs X’s child attended School Y, a private school for children with additional needs. Mrs X reported to the Council in August 2018 her concern about School Y’s restraint methods, and other handling methods. She believed the methods were harming, and has harmed, her child. She has since removed the child from School Y.
7. The Council has to have a Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) to coordinate the consideration of allegations of harm caused by those employed in school settings. The LADO contacted Ofsted, the inspectorate body for schools. It carried out an inspection at School Y in September 2018. The report shows the Ofsted inspectors considered the behaviour management techniques used including using restraint methods. Both Ofsted and the Department for Education has confirmed the Ofsted inspector knew Mrs X’s allegations before the inspection.
8. Ofsted published its report in November. The Council’s LADO then called a multi agency meeting, which included School Y staff. This meeting included the Police. It met in December 2018. The meeting decided at that point the information did not justify any further intervention. It scheduled another meeting for April 2019 for oversight.
9. Mrs X complained to the Council in March 2019. She said the Council had failed to take action. In reply the Council said, it had taken a decision based on the information it had. It said as no specific school officer was named, its LADO had no further role.

Analysis

10. We cannot investigate School Y’s actions. Any substantial injustice caused to the child will have been caused by School Y’s actions.
11. It is not our role to inspect schools. Ofsted inspected the school in light of the allegations. It is their role to do this. We cannot investigate Ofsted’s inspection.
12. The LADO’s role here is one of coordination. They contacted Ofsted and arranged a multi agency meeting. It is unlikely our investigation could decide it should have done more. Any decision on whether a further inspection is needed is for Ofsted and any decision on whether there are criminal actions of harm, is for the Police.
13. The Council’s LADO procedures show that it has no detailed role to undertake if there is no allegation against a named staff member.
14. The Council did not need to carry out a safeguarding investigation into Mrs X’s child’s circumstances as Mrs X had taken action to prevent a reoccurrence of any of the harm she alleged happening.

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Final decision

15. The Ombudsman will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot look at School Y or Ofsted’s actions and it is unlikely our investigation would lead to a significantly different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman