Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a compliance check process the Council operates to allow childminders to deliver the government’s free early education entitlement. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council or injustice to Mrs X in completing the process to warrant our further involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X said the Council’s compliance check process for childminders to deliver the free early education entitlement (FEEE) is over-burdensome. She says it is more detailed than that run by other authorities in London, and it took her 10.5 hours to complete, which she found stressful.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council is obliged to devise a checking process for those childminders who wish to participate in the government FEEE scheme. That the equivalent checking processes devised by other local authorities in London take less time or ask fewer questions does not automatically mean the Council’s process is a matter of fault, or that it should require less information. I note the Council has stated it has 85 childminders currently registered under the FEEE scheme, which suggests childminders are able to navigate the checking process effectively. I also note Mrs X has had the same opportunity to access the scheme as other childminders. While I accept that Mrs X taking over ten hours to complete the compliance checks might be frustrating, that would not amount to sufficient injustice to warrant an investigation by us, even if there were fault in the process used.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault or injustice caused to Mrs X by fault to warrant our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman