Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about poor communication from the Council. An investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response or achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mrs X, complained the Council failed to call her to discuss her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan as previously arranged. Mrs X says the Council has instead been communicating via email.

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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, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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

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

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My assessment

5. The Council has responded to Mrs X’s complaint and apologised for not calling as previously arranged. It has invited Mrs X to contact the Council via email.
6. While I understand Mrs X’s frustrations, we will not start an investigation into her complaint. The fault and injustice in this case are not significant enough to warrant our involvement. Also, an investigation by the Ombudsman would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response or achieve a different outcome. An investigation by the Ombudsman is not therefore warranted. If Mrs X has specific concerns about her child’s education, then she should put them in writing to the Council.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely our involvement would achieve anything more or lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman