Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council incorrectly recorded her marital status. The Council has already apologised. An investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about the Council’s record keeping regarding her marital status. Miss X said during a meeting an officer said Miss X was in a same-sex relationship. Miss X said the record of the meeting was later updated and mistakenly indicated she was in a relationship with her mother.
2. Miss X said the matter caused her distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because, in its complaint response, the Council apologised to Miss X for the errors. Although Miss X wants the individual social worker to apologise, this is not an outcome the Ombudsman can achieve. The Council, as the responsible authority, has apologised. This meets the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies. Therefore, an investigation by the Ombudsman is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome, and we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve any additional outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman