Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to adhere to his reasonable adjustment, and about the Council employee’s conduct during a telephone call. This is because we could not add to the Council’s investigation, and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to make reasonable adjustment – Mr X had requested written communication and no telephone calls. Mr X also complained about the Council employee’s conduct during the phone call and that the Council did not address his complaint in full.
2. Mr X said the unexpected phone call caused him distress, and he was put to unnecessary time and trouble complaining to the Council and us about the Council’s inadequate complaint investigation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council contacted Mr X by telephone in response to a complaint he had submitted regarding an assessment. Mr X complained that this was not in line with his reasonable adjustment for written communication. The Council upheld Mr X’s complaint. It told Mr X that it would take actions to ensure that his record would be updated and that it would carry out a system wide review to ensure reasonable adjustment preferences were highlighted when complaints were submitted. We could not add to the Council’s investigation and achieve anything further. Therefore we will not investigate Mr X’s complaint.
7. Mr X also complained about the Council employee’s conduct during the phone call. Mr X said the Council’s complaint investigation was inadequate as it failed to address and investigate these complaint points. We will not investigate these complaints because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. And we will not look at Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s inadequate complaint handing in isolation when we will not investigate the substantive parts of this complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman