Northamptonshire County Council (19 013 062)
Category : Adult care services > Transport
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Jan 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision that her son is not entitled to a disabled person’s Blue Badge. This is because, following the Ombudsman’s enquiries, the Council has now agreed to issue a badge. An investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.
The complaint
- Ms X complained about the Council’s decision that her son did not qualify for a disabled person’s Blue Badge.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I have considered information from Ms X and the Council and I have spoken to Ms X on the telephone.
What I found
- Ms X applied to the Council for a disabled person’s Blue Badge for her son, Mr Y.
- The Council considered the application and concluded Mr Y did not qualify for a badge.
- Ms X complained to the Ombudsman and we asked the Council for more information. The Council responded saying that after reconsidering the matter it concluded the decision to refuse the badge was incorrect and has now agreed to provide one to Mr Y.
- I discussed this with Ms X and she confirmed she was happy with this outcome. In these circumstances there is little that could be achieve by the Ombudsman’s continued involvement.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint because it is unlikely we could achieve a different outcome.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman