Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s recent actions in dealing with him and his complaint concerning matters dating back to 2010. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because the matters about which he complains fall outside our jurisdiction .

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council’s treatment of him has caused him to suffer mental health problems. He says it has not provided him with information he has requested in a timely manner; it has not provided him with suitable support given his health problems and that it has unfairly treated him as being a vexatious complainant.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone can appeal to a tribunal. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(a), as amended)
5. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner.
6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
7. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

8. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X and the Council. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

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What I found

9. Previously, Mr X had complained to the Ombudsman about a matter from 2010 concerning bailiffs and the collection of a business rates debt. The Ombudsman told Mr X that it could not investigate the complaint because it was a late complaint as the events complained about had happened too far in the past to be investigated.
10. In 2019 the Council revisited the events from 2010 and addressed Mr X’s concerns about them under its complaints procedure.
11. Mr X says his current complaint to the Ombudsman is a new complaint about the impact the Council’s actions since 2010 have had on his mental health. He also says he has asked for information from the Council which has not been provided in a timely manner. Mr X says he wants care support for his health problems and for the Council to stop treating him as a vexatious complainant.

Assessment

12. Mr X has been told previously that we will not investigate his complaint about events from 2010 and this matter will not be reopened. The fact that the Council revisited the events recently and decided to exercise its discretion to address the complaint again does not change our decision.
13. His complaint that the Council is responsible for his ongoing mental health problems falls outside our jurisdiction because Mr X can take legal action against the Council through the courts. As we would reasonably expect him to make use of this alternative remedy, we will not investigate it. Such a matter is for the courts and not the Ombudsman to determine.
14. Mr X says he has asked the Council for information but it has not provided it in a timely manner. This issue also falls outside our jurisdiction because he can contact the ICO and has appeal rights to the First Tier Tribunal.
15. When the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in 2019 it advised him to seek help from his GP about his health problems. It also told him he could contact Adult Social Care and gave him the details to do this.
16. It appears that recently the Council has decided to treat Mr X as a vexatious complainant and impose restrictions on his contact with it. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 6 of this statement applies to this issue because we expect new complaints to be addressed under the Council’s complaints procedure before we will consider it.
17. In his response to my draft decision, Mr X says he is being blocked from vital services and his well being is being damaged because he does not have access to Council services. However, it is open to Mr X to make a complaint to the Council about these issues and we expect him to do so before we will consider such a complaint.

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Final decision

18. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the matters about which he complains fall outside our jurisdiction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman