The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to cancel a ‘staying put’ agreement. That is because Mr X has not exhausted the Council’s complaint procedure.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to cancel a ‘staying put’ agreement for a young person he was a connected person foster carer for. He also complained about the Council’s decision to withhold pupil premium money. He said the Council’s actions had caused stress and financial hardship. He wants the Council to follow the correct policy and put right what it has done wrong.
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 the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council’s complaint response indicates that Mr X said he did not want the Council Officers who worked within its Complaints Department to investigate his complaint. He also said he did not want those responsible for adjudicating the complaints process involved. Because of that, the Council said it could not investigate his complaint and directed Mr X to the Ombudsman.
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. We expect a complainant to have exhausted the Council’s complaint procedure before they come to us. There are no grounds to make an exception in this case. The Council is able and willing to respond to Mr X’s complaint. It is for the Council to decide how best to do that, including who should investigate. Once Mr X has completed the Council’s complaint procedure, he can return to the Ombudsman if he is dissatisfied with the outcome.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not exhausted the Council’s complaint procedure.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman