Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a lease on a burial plot. The Council has apologised for an incorrect record and failing to confirm receipt of the complainant’s cheque. I consider this an appropriate remedy to this part of the complaint. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation into the remainder of the complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X, says the Council failed to chase him for information before the lease on a family burial plot expired. Because of this he had to pay more than £2,000 to extend the lease.
2. He also complains the Council failed to send an email confirming receipt of the payment to extend the lease.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
4. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

7. In 2019 Mr X contacted the Council about family burial plots as he wished to arrange the interment of his aunt’s ashes.
8. The Council advised him there was space in two plots. Mr X told the Council he would confirm which plot he wanted to use. He did not contact the Council again until 2021.
9. In August 2021, Mr X contacted the Council as the funeral director who dealt with his aunt’s arrangements had contacted him asking how he wanted them to dispose of her ashes.
10. Mr X contacted the Council who advised him the leases on the two plots expired in 2018 and June 2021. It advised if he wanted to inter any remains, he would have to pay to extend the lease on one of the plots.
11. I understand Mr X believes the Council should have followed him up for a response back in 2019. However, it is not the Council’s responsibility to do so. Mr X’s email states his family will decide whether his aunt should be interred with either her mother or her father as they are in separate plots. It is Mr X’s responsibility to let the Council know which plot he wanted to use. On receipt of this information, the Council would have sent him the necessary paperwork.
12. It is unfortunate that Mr X did not contact the Council until more than a month after the last lease expired, but I cannot say this was the fault of the Council.
13. Mr X also complains the Council:
• held the wrong name in one of its burial records; and
• failed to send him an email confirming receipt of the money to extend the lease.
14. The Council has apologised for both errors. I consider neither point to have caused Mr X a significant personal injustice and apologies are appropriate remedies for these parts of the complaint.

Back to top

Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council was not responsible for chasing Mr X for a decision on which plot he wanted to use back in 2019.
16. The apologies for the incorrect name on the record and failure to send an email are appropriate remedies for these errors.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman