The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council’s Local Authority Designated Officer because there is no evidence that those actions caused the complainant a demonstrable injustice and investigation would not achieve a worthwhile outcome.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council was at fault in the course of a Local Authority Designated Officer’s enquiry into a matter within a school, and in its response to his subsequent complaint.
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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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
Mr X’s complaint relates to the conduct of the Council’s Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) in relation to a safeguarding matter within a school. The events about which he complains took place in 2015. Mr X believes the Council failed to provide a level of service to which residents of the Council’s area are entitled.
When deciding whether to investigate a complaint, the Ombudsman must consider whether the actions about which someone complains have caused them a demonstrable injustice. Mr X says the Council’s actions have affected him profoundly. I note however that he was not party to the LADO enquiry, is not a resident of the Council’s area and has demonstrated no link to pupils at the school which was the subject of the LADO’s actions. There is no evidence that the LADO’s actions caused him a demonstrable injustice and investigation is not therefore warranted.
I also note that the events took place some nine years ago and the individual who was central to them is no longer with the Council. There is therefore little prospect that investigation by the Ombudsman would reach significantly different findings to those of the Council. In any event, we could not change the outcome of the LADO’s actions. There is therefore no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no evidence that the Council’s actions caused him an injustice and investigation would not achieve a worthwhile outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman