Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to provide an appropriate school for her child and backdated school transport costs. This is because the Council has resolved these issues since Mrs X made her complaint to us and we could achieve nothing more. Mrs X’s complaints about free school meals and holiday vouchers have not been put to the Council, so are premature.

The complaint

1. Mrs X initially complained the Council failed to provide an adequate school for her child as well as backdated school transport costs. She says this has affected both her and her child’s mental health and has left her child with no sense of belonging. Mrs X later updated her complaint to include the Council’s failure to provide free school meals and holiday vouchers for her child since starting school in February 2026.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Since submitting her initial complaint to the Ombudsman, the Council has named a suitable school and backdated school transport costs for Mrs X’s child. We will not investigate these issues further because we could not achieve anything more for Mrs X and her child.
8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s remaining complaint about free school meals and holiday voucher provision because the law says we must give the Council an opportunity to consider and respond. If Mrs X remains unhappy after the Council completes its consideration, she may submit a further complaint to us about those issues.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because investigation by us would not achieve anything further. The remaining issues of free school meals and holiday voucher provision are premature.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman