Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the coroner’s service. The service is not an administrative function of the Council and so the law prevents us from investigating. In any case, the complaint is late.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the coroner’s handling of her request for a recording of her mother’s inquest.
2. Mrs X says the matter has caused significant distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended).
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 said she asked the coroner’s service for a recording of her mother’s inquest in November 2017.
9. Mrs X complained about how the service handled her request. She said in May 2026 the service told her the recording had been destroyed but later provided it.
10. A coroner’s duties and functions under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 remain the coroner’s, despite being appointed and paid by the council. Matters occurring in relation to any tasks on behalf of a coroner, or as part of the coroner’s statutory functions, or role, are in the exercise of the coroner’s functions, not those of the council.
11. We cannot investigate this complaint because the matters complained about relate to coronial functions, not an administrative function of the Council.
12. In any case, Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman in September 2026, almost nine years after her first request for the recording. As outlined in paragraph five, we cannot normally investigate late complaints where a person has known about a matter for more than a year.
13. Therefore, even if this complaint was inside our jurisdiction, it would be late and so we could not consider it.

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Final decision

14. We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it does not concern an administrative function of the Council and it is made late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman