Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council telling the complainant’s family to remove a bench they had placed close to a relative’s grave. There is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council has asked her family to remove a bench they placed close to a relative’s grave.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

3. With regard to the first bullet point above, we can consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council, which included the Council’s complaint responses.
5. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I appreciate why Miss X is upset by the Council’s request for the bench to be removed.
7. But 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, or tell the Council how it should operate its services. Instead, we look at whether there was fault in how it made its decisions. If we decide there is insufficient evidence of fault in how it did so, we cannot ask whether it should have made a particular decision or say it should have reached a different outcome.
8. In this case, the Council appears to have acted in accordance with its policy for this section of the crematorium, where only headstones and a kerb sets are permitted. The Ombudsman will therefore not start an investigation, because there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman