Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s management of a cemetery. It is unlikely we could add anything to the Council’s response or achieve the outcome the complainant wants.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s management of one of its cemeteries. She says the Council allowed a burial in a plot which is too close to her own. This means there is not enough space around her own plot, which now tapers from one end to the other. Miss X is also unhappy a concrete plinth was not installed centrally. Miss X is worried the walls of her own plot will collapse and wants the Council to reinforce them. Miss X also wants the Council to arrange for the concrete plinth to be moved.

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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
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. In its response to Miss X’s complaint the Council said:
• Its cemetery rules limit the width for memorialisation but do not include minimum dimensions for plots.
• The Local Authorities’ Cemeteries Order gives burial authorities powers to manage cemeteries as they think fit.
• It has visited the site and says the graves are broadly arranged in lines. The graves in the row in question are “roughly in line with, and a similar size, to graves in adjacent rows.”
• The risk of collapse from neighbouring plots cannot be eliminated, but it takes steps to minimise the risk.
• There is enough space to dig a grave which would be around the same size as surrounding graves.
• Masons act for customers about where to place foundations or headstones.
6. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. We only investigate those where there is clear fault by the Council, and it is of a type or scale there is a significant public interest in exposing and correcting it. The injustice also needs to amount to serious harm or loss, and we cannot consider complaints about what might happen. We also cannot question the professional judgement of council officers unless there is clear fault in the decision-making process.
7. While I recognise Miss X’s concerns, we will not start an investigation into her complaint. The Council has responded to Miss X’s complaint and there is not enough evidence the Council has failed to follow either its own guidelines or legislation to warrant an investigation. The professional judgement of the Council’s officers is the grave is wide enough to be dug and there is no basis for us to question this. There are no grounds for us to say the Council should reinforce the plot or move the plinth. We cannot therefore achieve the outcome Miss X wants and so an investigation is not appropriate.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman