Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to properly investigate complaints Mrs X has made about the cleanliness of her local leisure centre. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains that her local leisure centre and its facilities present a health and safety concern to the public due to a lack of cleanliness.

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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.

(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 Mrs X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X complained to the Council that she was unhappy with the facilities at her local leisure centre due to poor cleanliness and hygiene.
6. The Council investigated Mrs X’s complaint by sending a senior manager to inspect the premises. The manager wrote to Mrs X agreeing that standards could be improved and confirming the Council had bought additional cleaning equipment and adapted the cleaning rota to ensure that the areas that needed cleaning most were attended to more regularly. The manager confirmed he did not find evidence of a health and safety hazard and an independent pool specialist tested the pool each month and did not report any concerns.
7. Mrs X has brought her complaint to us as she remains unhappy with the Council’s response. The evidence shows the Council has responded to this complaint in the way we would expect. It has inspected the leisure centre and did not find evidence of a health and safety hazard or an offence. The Council has taken action to improve the environment and has confirmed that the cleaning practices will be modified to ensure this happens. These were reasonable actions for the Council to take. An investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman