Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s complaint response to Mrs X. The Council has now responded at stage two, in line with an earlier recommendation by us, and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about several issues relating to education provision, for her child, Y. She said this after the Council provided her with a stage two investigation response. She said this evidenced the Council’s failure to properly engage with her in a transparent manner and its records were inaccurate. Mrs X said she was left with a feeling of being excluded from important meetings.

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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 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 I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Mrs X raised several matters relating to education provision for her child, Y. We previously investigated a complaint from Mrs X about similar matters. At the end of that investigation, we made a recommendation to the Council, to carry out a stage two complaint investigation.
5. Mrs X came back to us, because she was unhappy with the Council’s subsequent response, however, we will not investigate Mrs X complaint. Most of the issues have already been decided by us and we will not re-investigate.
6. The only matter which we previously identified as being outstanding was the Council’s explanation about communication with Mrs X prior to a multi-agency meeting. The Council has now provided Mrs X with an explanation and the Council’s substantive decision-making relating to that meeting is a matter which we already found it was not acting with fault. Therefore, there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman