Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms B’s complaint the Council is not maintaining a family grave. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms B, complains the Council has failed to maintain a family grave, removed kerbstones and laid the headstone flat. Ms B says her late grandmother had paid for the grave to be maintained and it is upsetting for the family to see it in its current state.

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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 cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered the information Ms B provided and the Council’s response to her complaint. I sent a draft decision to Ms B and invited comments before I made my final decision.

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What I found

7. Ms B says she has been complaining to the Council since the 1990s about the condition of the grave.
8. In response to Ms B’s complaint, the Council has said its records show Ms B’s late grandmother (Mrs A) bought the grave in 1941 for the burial of her husband. Mrs A bought a grave maintenance agreement in 1947. Mrs A was buried in the grave in 1950 and another family member in 1970. This was the last burial in the grave and the Council has explained there has been no request to transfer ownership of the grave. Because of this, the agreement to maintain the grave lapsed 21 years after Mrs A died.
9. The Council has also explained it removed the kerbstones in the 1970s and has laid the headstone flat because a safety inspection showed this was not safe.
10. While Ms B does not consider the Council is properly maintaining the grave, the Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. Further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council. This is because the Council has explained the grave maintenance agreement lapsed in the 1970s.
11. A complaint about the removal of the kerbstones is late because the Council did this work in the 1970s to aid maintenance of the cemetery. There are no good reasons for the Ombudsman to exercise his discretion and now investigate this late complaint

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because further consideration of the complaint is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman