The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing to consider Mr X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Mr X said the Council was wrong to refuse to investigate a new matter he reported on the ground that it had already dealt with it.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The matter about which Mr X contacted the Council in June 2021 was suicidal ideation by his child. He said the Council was wrong to tell him it had already dealt with this matter in its response to a previous complaint. The context of the complaint is one where the Council removed Mr X’s child from his care some years ago, and Mr X has not been happy with the Council’s care of his child.
I asked the Council for the complaint correspondence. This showed the Council addressed the issue of suicidal ideation in its earlier complaint responses, as it said. Suicidal ideation by Mr X’s child has been and remains a significant concern for the Council, and that it has responded to Mr X about this. That Mr X sent the Council another communication about his child’s suicidal ideation did not oblige it to reconsider the matter.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant this.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman