The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about that the Council labelled X as vexatious. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our further involvement.
The complaint
X complains that the Council failed to provide suitable full-time education for a child and has labelled X’s concerns about this as vexatious.
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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate X’s complaint that the Council has failed to provide a child with a full-time education. This is because X has previously made a complaint to us about the same issue and we cannot accept repeat complaints.
I will not investigate X’s complaint that the Council labelled them as vexatious in a letter warning X about making repeat complaints. This is because I do not consider that the warning letter has caused X a significant enough injustice to warrant our further involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate X’s complaint because the warning letter has not caused X a significant enough injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman