Darlington Borough Council (20 009 162)
Category : Adult care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 05 Feb 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a Council officer being rude to her during a telephone call. This is because it is unlikely an investigation would be able to add to the response already provided via the Council’s investigation.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains a Council officer was rude to her during a telephone call.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
- 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 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Mrs X provided. I also considered the complaint correspondence, which we requested from the Council. I sent Mrs X a draft of my decision and invited her comments on it.
What I found
- Mrs X complained to the Council about a telephone call she had with a Council officer. Mrs X said the officer was very rude to her and acted as if she did not care about Mrs X’s situation and her husband’s condition.
- The Council investigated, and questioned the officer, but its findings were inconclusive. This is because there were two conflicting accounts of events given by the two parties and no evidence to corroborate either party’s account. The call was not recorded.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is very unlikely an investigation by us would be able to add to the response already provided by the Council given the call was not recorded and the differing accounts provided by the two parties.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman