Summary: Mrs C says the Council failed to enforce cemetery rules resulting in her exhuming her relatives and incurring around £5000 in costs. The Ombudsman appreciates this is a sensitive matter but has discontinued the investigation. He cannot achieve the outcome sought by Mrs C. She can use the court service for the financial remedy she is seeking.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Mrs C) says the Council failed to enforce cemetery regulations for several years. She states that the owners of a neighbouring grave acted inappropriately and the grave memorials breach regulations. As a result, she decided to exhume her relatives and wants the Council to refund the fee (of around £5000).
2. Mrs C also refers to alleged breaches of data protection by the Council.

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What I have investigated

3. I have considered events from September 2020 in respect of the complaint about the grave and cemetery management.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
6. 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 may discontinue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I have considered the information provided by Mrs C including the Council’s complaint responses.
8. I shared my draft decision with both parties.

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What I found

9. Mrs C contacted the Council in 2021 about inappropriate behaviour by the owners of a grave sited near her family plot in a Council cemetery. She felt the other grave was encroaching and she said the memorials on the neighbouring plot breached cemetery regulations. Mrs C said the Council failed to take action. A few months later she had her family members exhumed.
10. This is clearly a very sensitive matter. I understand how distressing events may have been for Mrs C. That said I must consider whether it is appropriate to investigate matters further. The key redress being sought by Mrs C is a refund of the exhumation fee totalling around £5,000. Where the claimed injustice is a large financial sum, the Ombudsman considers it appropriate for such cases to be addressed through court action rather than his service. Because we cannot achieve the outcome sought by Mrs C I have discontinued the investigation.

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Final decision

11. I have discontinued the investigation.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

12. The Ombudsman will not look back over several years, he expects a complaint to be made within 12 months of a problem occurring. That means I am unable to consider the various issues Mrs C had with the cemetery management dating back a number of years.
13. Complaints about data protection breaches are for the Information Commissioner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman