The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the way the Council dealt with her complaint. This is because we will not investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I refer to as Mrs X, complains the Council responded insensitively to her complaint as it was handled by the same person she had made a complaint about. She states she felt insulted and wants an apology from the Council.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X contacted the Council several times raising concerns about her granddaughter and later made a complaint to the Council, stating she hadn’t been taken seriously and raised issues about a named Manager.
The Council responded stating it was unable to share details of the case with her without consent from someone with parental responsibility for the child. The response was signed off by the same named Manager.
Mrs X accepted the Council’s decision and why it would not share the information. But she was dissatisfied that her complaint had been handled by the named Manager, rather than an independent person.
It is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we will not investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not dealing with the substantive issue.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman