Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council referred to Ms X in an internal email as the injustice caused to Ms X from this is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that in an internal email, a Council officer referred to her as ‘her’ and ‘she’ instead of using her name. Ms X has been caused upset by this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. While I recognise Ms X has been caused upset by the language used in a Council email, from our perspective, the level of injustice from this is not sufficient to warrant our involvement. For this reason, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate this complaint as the injustice caused to Ms X is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman