Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to investigate a complaint. This is because the injustice caused by poor complaints handling is not significant enough to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council has refused to investigate his complaint about failing to act when he made a safeguarding referral.
2. He says this has caused him stress, anxiety and uncertainty as he cannot be sure the Council is taking his concerns seriously. He says he has spent time providing the Council with further information and he has lost trust in the Council.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I appreciate Mr X is frustrated by the lack of response from the Council about his concerns. However, we would not normally investigate a complaint about poor complaints handling when we are not investigating the original complaint matter. As the injustice caused by the poor complaints handling is not usually sufficient on its own to justify further investigation.
7. I am satisfied the Council has acted on Mr X’s safeguarding referral. This means we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions in responding to a safeguarding referral. Therefore, it would not be reasonable to carry out a further investigation into the original complaint. I do not consider the injustice linked to the poor complaints handling to be sufficient to warrant an investigation into poor complaints handling on its own.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant investigation and any injustice caused by poor complaints handling is not significant enough to warrant further investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman