The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has been at fault in its response to a request for an exhumation and reinterment. This is because investigation would not achieve the outcomes the complainant wants.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X. complains that the Council has been at fault in its response to his family’s request for the exhumation and reinterment of a family member.
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 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 continue an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X says his family has been pursuing the exhumation and reinterment of a family member since 2022. This is a process which requires the agreement and cooperation of the Council in the exhumation.
Mr X complains that the Council has been at fault throughout the process. He says it inappropriately contacted a vulnerable family member and repeatedly misnamed the deceased. Most significantly, Mr X contends that the Council’s failure to provide an appropriate level of service has unnecessary delayed the process, causing distress and inconvenience. He further contends that it has failed to respond properly to his formal complaint.
In settlement of his complaint, Mr X says he wants the Council to agree a date with his chosen funeral director to carry out the exhumation and reinterment, and to make and appropriate apology. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because our intervention would not achieve these outcomes.
Regarding the exhumation, the Council’s Principal Environmental Health Officer has set out what she requires to be able to approve the exhumation, and her view that the funeral director has not yet provided information to satisfy her that it will meet those requirements. It is clear that this is what is preventing progress. The officer has the right to use her professional judgement to insist on these requirements and it is not for the Ombudsman to ask that they be waived.
With regard to the apology Mr X wants, the Council has already apologised for the delay in reaching the current position and has, as a gesture of goodwill, offered to waive the cost of environmental health attendance at the exhumation. The apology may not cover all of the areas Mr X feels it should but that does not, in itself, warrant our intervention.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because investigation would not achieve the outcomes he is seeking.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman