Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s maintenance of a cemetery. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council not properly maintaining the cemetery where her relatives are buried. She says she paid a lot to have her relatives interred and the Council does not provide sufficient taps on site, there are poorly maintained toilets and the site has been subject to neglect and vandalism.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X says the cemetery where her relatives are buried is suffering from neglect by the Council and lacks facilities. She says the site has poor toilets, taps are in short supply and vandalism has taken place due to neglect and having a derelict building on site.
6. The Council told Mrs X that it has been carrying out improvements to the provision of taps but that the infrastructure is old and does not cover the whole cemetery area. It is not possible to provide taps in all areas of the site. It also advised that it has carried out some work to the toilets and will do repairs as they are required. This has meant sometimes the toilets have been closed to prevent vandalism while they are being repaired. The Council has patrols through its cemeteries but the staff cannot be on site at all times.
7. There is no requirement under the Local Authorities' Cemeteries Order 1977 for a council to provide taps or toilets on site. Apart from a general upkeep provision for cemeteries the responsibility is mainly for walls, railings and the marking of grave plots without provision of specific facilities.
8. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly, we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong, regardless of whether someone disagrees with the decision the organisation made.
9. In this case the Council has explained to Mrs X what it intends to provides within its budget and the reasons why it cannot always meet some expectations of visitors to the site.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s maintenance of a cemetery. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman