Overview
The complainants, the parents of a young daughter, raised a number of issues about her pre-school education and about how their complaints about these issues had been handled by the City of Edinburgh Council.
Specific complaint and conclusion
The complaint which has been investigated is that the Council did not properly handle Mr C and Ms C's complaints (upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommended that the Council:
- (i) apologise for failing to handle the complaints properly;
- (ii) review the implementation of their complaints procedure to ensure that complaints are fully considered locally unless there are exceptional circumstances; and
- (iii) take steps to ensure that they clarify to complainants when the local process is complete.
The Council responded that the Director of Children and Families accepted that there were failings and that they were prepared to apologise. The Director confirmed that he had instructed a major review of his Department's complaints handling procedures.