Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (24 005 670)
Category : Environment and regulation > Cemeteries and crematoria
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Oct 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to properly maintain the complainant’s husband’s grave. This is because investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mrs X, complains that the Council has failed to properly maintain her husband’s grave.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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:
- 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))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mrs X says the Council has failed to ensure her husband’s grave and the surrounding area has been properly maintained. She says this caused her to fall while visiting the grave. Because of her disability, Mrs X feels the state of the ground around the grave makes it unsafe for her to visit.
- Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council. The Council has upheld the complaint. It says maintenance at the cemetery has been challenging, due in part to continuous rain. It has changed its grounds maintenance contractor and will improve its communication regarding difficult ground conditions.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. We will not normally pursue complaints which have already been upheld, as is the case here. The measures the Council has set out in its final complaint response are a reasonable and proportionate response to the issues Mrs X has raised and there is no prospect that the Ombudsman’s intervention would lead to a different outcome.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman