Canterbury City Council (19 010 487)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 11-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr B complains about the Council’s response to his allegations of housing benefit fraud in connection with a property owned by his family and rented out to tenants. The complaint falls outside our jurisdiction because it is a late complaint and because Mr B has a legal remedy through the courts if he considers the Council has liability.

Durham County Council (19 008 812)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 07-Nov-2019

Summary: Mr X complains the Council’s Community Governance Review was flawed and has put local democracy at risk. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint as he considers Mr X has not suffered any significant personal injustice.

Eastbourne Borough Council (19 010 500)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 06-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about an alleged breach of his personal information and the accuracy of information held by the Council. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault causing significant injustice to Mr X. If Mr X has continuing concerns about the accuracy of information held by the Council, he can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (19 009 750)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 05-Nov-2019

Summary: We will not investigate Mr Q’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to respond to a petition he tabled during a meeting. Nor will we investigate the Council’s handling of his later complaint about the matter. This is because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions. Nor has he suffered significant injustice because of the alleged fault.

London Borough of Enfield (19 007 122)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 05-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint the Council has collected council tax and issued a council tax rebate to a person who was not the named person on the council tax demand. There is no significant injustice to Mr B arising from this and his complaints of fraud by a third party are matters for the police.

Essex County Council (18 016 674)

Statement Upheld Other 04-Nov-2019

Summary: the complainant says the Council failed to keep records about his time in care and about his birth family preventing him from accessing details about his birth family when they traced him in 2016. The Council says it cannot say whether the records have been destroyed or lost but it has searched for them. It accepts fault and offered a remedy to the complainant. The Ombudsman finds the Council at fault and recommends a remedy recognising the inconvenience and stress caused to the complainant.

Greater London Authority (19 009 760)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 01-Nov-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman cannot investigate this complaint about how the Authority has considered the complainant’s evidence on an environment issue. It is about something that would affect all or most of the people of Greater London.

Canterbury City Council (19 005 025)

Statement Upheld Other 30-Oct-2019

Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of Ms Z that the Council’s delays in dealing with his request for a copy of CCTV footage led to it being deleted. Mr X said this negatively affected Ms Z’s insurance claim and her annual premiums have increased. The Council was not at fault. Mr X also complained about the Council’s failure to deal properly with his requests for updates and says this caused him frustration and unnecessary time and trouble. The Council has already admitted it was at fault and has apologised. It should also make a payment to Mr X and provide evidence it has used this case to learn lessons.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (19 009 305)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 30-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint the Council wrongly disclosed information about her son. This is because the Information Commissioner’s Office is the appropriate body to deal with her complaint.

Peterborough City Council (19 009 775)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Other 30-Oct-2019

Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to his freedom of information request. This is because it would be reasonable for Mr X to put the matter to the Information Commissioner.