Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about crematorium gardeners walking over the area where her mother’s ashes were laid. This is because it is unlikely we could add to the response the Council has already provided via its own investigation of the matter. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about where her mother’s ashes were laid in 2021. It lies outside our jurisdiction because the complaint has not been made within 12 months.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains gardeners have been walking over the area where her mother’s ashes were laid to rest. Mrs X also complains her mother’s ashes were not laid to rest next to where her father’s ashes were laid.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X complained to the Council after she saw gardeners were walking over the area where her mother’s ashes were laid to rest in a memorial garden. She also complained about her mother’s ashes not being laid to rest next to her father’s in 2021.
9. The Council apologised to Mrs X for the distress caused by the gardeners walking on the area. It explained the gardeners need to access the area between the shrubs to trim them back, usually twice a year, and that this usually causes minimal disruption. It explained the gardeners would not know exactly where the ashes were laid as there is no marker or plaque.
10. It offered to put signage or to plant bulbs between the shrubs to manage the situation and to meet with Mrs X to discuss the matter further but this was declined. It confirmed a number of items Mrs X had subsequently placed in the area to deter people from walking there, could remain in place. It also provided further information about the dispersal of the ashes.
11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because it is unlikely an investigation by this office could add in any significant way to the response already provided by the Council via its own investigation of the matter. The Council has explained why the area needs to be accessed and has offered to take suitable action to try to prevent the issue from recurring.
12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about where her mother’s ashes were laid in 2021 because it lies outside our jurisdiction. The law says complaints should be made to us within 12 months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this part of the complaint now, over 3 years later.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because we could not add to the responses the Council has already provided via its own investigation and part of the complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman