Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s calculation and charging for grant works at her home. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the overall cost of grant work to her home which was more than she expected it would be from the estimates initially given by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered all the information which Mrs X submitted with her complaint.

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What I found

4. Mrs X applied for a grant for building works to her home. She signed a contract for the works and the contractor provided an estimate of the costs. There were several variations to the original proposed works, but this did not add to the overall costs. Mrs X says she did not expect the cost for some of the works, such as the kitchen, to be as high as they were. She says the format of the estimates and the final invoice were complex and confusing.
5. The Council require the grant application forms to be completed by Mrs X and these have a standard format. The works invoices and estimates were in the format of standard building contract terms and were required to show a breakdown of all the elements and separate charges such as VAT.
6. The Council says it will try to simplify the schedules in future works but there are limitations imposed by the requirement to contain certain information. It assured Mrs X that all the works are accurately costed and reflected in the documents.
7. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. I can see no difference between the methods used in this case to calculate the works and invoices used in similar works by other authorities.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman