Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council did not respond appropriately to a complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to consider complaints about complaint procedures, and we will not do so here.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council failed to respond to his complaint reasonably, and in accordance with its own published procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about its management of his child’s Education Health and Care plan. His complaint to the Ombudsman concerns how the Council handled his complaint. He says the substantive matters are now subject to an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) and his complaint the Ombudsman does not relate to them.
6. The Ombudsman will not consider this complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures where the substantive matters do not fall to be considered. That is the case here. Mr X is clear that he wants the Ombudsman to investigate how his complaint has been handled and we will not do so.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it concerns complaint-handling and it is not a good use of our resources to investigate.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman