Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council refusing to install safety measures on the highway near the school where she teaches, and refusing to accept the current situation as a risk to her school’s pupils. Miss X’s has not brought her complaint as a member of the public so we cannot accept it. We also cannot investigate complaints from public bodies.

The complaint

1. Miss X is a senior teacher at a local school. She complains the Council:
1. is refusing to install safety measures such as bollards and fencing at her school, despite doing so at other schools;
2. has refused to accept the current situation as a safeguarding risk.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We can only accept complaints from members of the public, who claim to have suffered injustice, or from their authorised representative. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A, as amended)
4. We cannot investigate complaints from public bodies. (Local Government Act 1974, section 27(1)(a), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information from Miss X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We recognise Miss X’s school raised a petition with the Council to demonstrate the level of support for traffic safety measures near the school. But she has brought the complaint to us in her capacity as a senior teacher at the school, not as a member of the public. We cannot accept such complaints.
7. As a senior teacher, Miss X also represents a body created for the public good. We cannot investigate complaints from those bodies about another, such as the Council.
8. For these reasons the Local Government Act 1974 prevents us from accepting or investigating the complaint, so we will not do so.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because:
• we cannot accept it because she has not brought her complaint as a member of the public; and
• we cannot investigate complaints from public bodies.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman