Mr A complained about how the Council had dealt with his work permit application for his son, who was 13 at the time. Mr A was also concerned about the validity of the Council’s byelaws regarding the employment of children and that these were not published on its website nor provided to him in a timely manner, when he requested a copy.
The Council said that the work permit had not been refused and that Mr A had satisfied its requests for further information regarding working hours and a risk assessment in September 2024. The Council said that when Mr A contacted it about the issue in March 2025, there had been some confusion within its administrative process, when he was asked to apply again.
The Ombudsman was concerned about the Council’s poor handling of Mr A’s application, which amounted to maladministration that had caused him, and his son, an injustice. Instead of investigating the complaint, the Ombudsman obtained the Council’s agreement to, within 1 month, provide Mr A with a suitable apology and offer an ex-gratia payment of £250 to reflect the lost opportunity of work for his son and the time and trouble expended by Mr A in pursuing what should have been an unnecessary complaint.
The Ombudsman could not properly determine the validity, or otherwise, of the byelaws and did not consider it would be proportionate to investigate the issue regarding the availability of those byelaws.