The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint until ongoing court proceedings have concluded. This is because there is no sign of fault in the Council’s approach.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council’s decision not to consider her complaint about costs she incurred in relation to a child until current court proceedings relating to the child have concluded.
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) 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I considered the Council’s Corporate Comments, Compliments and Complaints Policy which is published on its website.
My assessment
Mrs X complained to the Council about costs she incurred in relation to a child who is currently subject to ongoing private court proceedings. She asked the council to reimburse her.
The Council told Mrs X it will not consider the matter until the court proceedings have concluded. This is because it could potentially be prejudicial to the ongoing proceedings to do so.
There is no sign of fault in the Council’s approach. It has acted in line with its published complaints policy which explains it has discretion to decide whether to consider a complaint where there are ongoing court proceedings for the reason the Council explained in its response.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no sign of fault by the Council in deciding not to consider the matter until the court proceedings have concluded.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman