Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to a debt Ms X said the Council owed to her organisation. It would be reasonable to expect Ms X to have pursued this debt through the civil courts.

The complaint

1. Ms X was unhappy with several aspects of her involvement with the Council, including:
• The Council had not paid all invoices that was due to her organisation;
• her organisation was being excluded from procurement processes, and;
• it’s communication with her was discriminatory and unprofessional.
2. Mrs X this has affected local procurement processes and she now wants the Council to repay all outstanding invoices.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact 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 or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms X is the registered manager of a care provider (Organisation A), that previously provided services to the Council. In 2020 we issued a final decision, relating to a complaint about outstanding invoices Organisation A said the Council owed them, for the period between 2011-2018.
8. In 2023, Ms X raised this issue again and in 2024, she raised her complaint with us. We will not investigate her complaint about outstanding invoices for money she believes is owed to Organisation A. This is because given the period of time and the dialogue between her and the Council, as well as the sum of money alleged to be owed, it would be reasonable to expect her to pursue or have pursued her claim through the civil courts. In any case we could not direct the Council to repay invoices it does not believe it owes and therefore we cannot achieve this outcome for her.
9. Ms X said the Council’s actions have caused ongoing issues for Organisation A, because it excluded it from local procurement processes. We will not investigate here, because the Public Procurement Review Service is a body better suited to consider any complaint here.
10. Finally, Ms X said the Council’s communication about this matter was unprofessional. We will not investigate this, on the evidence at hand, it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s response.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it would be reasonable to expect her to go to court and pursue her claim there.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman