Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to award him a £300 time and trouble payment for making a complaint. This is because there is nothing further we would add or recommend to the response the Council has already provided.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s decision not to award him a £300 time and trouble payment he requested for making a complaint about street cleaning outside his property.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (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. Mr X complains about the Council’s decision not to award him a £300 time and trouble payment for making a complaint about street cleaning.
7. The Council told Mr X it would not pay him any compensation as it had taken suitable action to resolve the complaint in treating the area with pesticide and clearing it of dead weeds.
8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is nothing further we would add or recommend to the response the Council has already provided to Mr X via its own investigation.
9. The Council considered Mr X’s request and explained why it decided not to award the payment. This is a decision it is entitled to make. It is also in line with our guidance on remedies. We do not recommend time and trouble payments to complainants solely for having to complain through the Council’s complaints procedure or making a complaint to this office. We only recommend a remedy where there has been significant time and trouble over what would usually be expected in making a complaint. Where this is the case we would usually recommend an apology. We would only usually recommend a payment where the severity of fault in complaint handling cannot be remedied by an apology.
10. Whilst I note Mr X says he has been raising issues with street cleaning dating back 30 years, I can see no delay or significant fault in complaint handling by the Council on this complaint. Mr X says he pays his Council Tax promptly and feels he is paying twice for services he receives as it also costs him time and money to complain. Council Tax is not a service charge it is a local property tax and so Council Tax refunds are not due should a resident not receive a particular council service for any reason.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is nothing further we would add to the response the Council has already provided via its own investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman