Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about letters the Council sent during an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice caused by the errors in the letters.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council sent her several letters about her daughter’s Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment which contained wrong information about when the Educational Psychologist was appointed and their role.
2. She says this has caused her to distrust the Council and feel she needs to double check the information the Council has given her to ensure there are no further mistakes.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(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.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the letters sent by the Council. While Ms X may have been frustrated to spot errors in the letters, and this may have added to her feelings of distrust in the Council, there is insufficient evidence of injustice from these small faults to warrant investigation.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of injustice to warrant further investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman