Summary: X complained about the actions of an officer and how it affected X’s business. We ended our investigation to allow the Council to complete its own investigation into what has happened.

The complaint

1. The person that complained to us will be referred to as X.
2. X complained the Council has failed to take action against one of its officers, who is X’s neighbour. X said the officer:
• intimidates X’s customers while wearing a council uniform;
• pretends to be acting on behalf of the Council while continuing a personal dispute;
• acts in close conjunction with other officers, who are considering enforcement action against X; and so
• is abusing their position as an officer and bringing the Council into disrepute.
3. X said the officer’s actions and the Council’s failure to intervene has caused stress and damage to X’s business.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 another person or body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• it would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; or
• at this time, 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

5. I read the complaint and discussed it with X. I read the Council’s response to the complaint and considered documents from its planning files, including the plans and the case officer’s report.
6. I have given the Council and X an opportunity to comment on my draft decision and will take account of any comments I receive.

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What I found

7. X told me that their neighbour, the Council’s officer, has:
• approached and intimidated X’s customers and staff, reducing some to tears, while wearing the Council’s uniform;
• while wearing a Council uniform, told customers not to visit their business premises;
• been seen taking photos of customers approaching X’s business;
• recently been seen sitting in an enforcement officer’s car, outside X’s home and business;
• abused their position as an officer and exploited relationships with other officers in order to put pressure on X and their business;
• made large numbers of untrue and unfounded complaints about X’s business, prompting disproportionate responses from enforcement officers.
8. X did complain to the Council through its corporate complaint’s procedure, but they did not make a code of conduct complaint to the Council’s monitoring officer.
9. The Council has told me some of the information X now provides is new. It said it is willing to investigate X’s allegations. The process of its investigation will be as follows:
• the Council will investigate what has happened;
• the results and the adequacy of the investigation will be considered by the Council’s monitoring officer.
10. Councils are required to employ a monitoring officer, who may issue reports if they believe the council, or its officers or members, have:
• acted illegally or with maladministration; or
• in breach of any law or relevant codes of conduct.
11. The monitoring officer is often, but not always, the council’s head of legal services.

My findings

12. We may investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. We use the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the process by which an organisation made its decision.
13. We do not investigate personnel matters – these are for councils as employers to decide. For example, if a decision-making process has yet to happen or is ongoing, we would usually end our investigation and allow it to complete.
14. The Council is prepared to investigate what has happened and act is it considers appropriate. For this reason, I should end my investigation.
15. If when the investigation is complete, X believes there were gaps or fault in the investigation process, they may come back to us so we can review what has happened.

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Final decision

16. I end my investigation to allow the Council to carry out its own investigation into what has happened.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman