Summary: We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council is wasting public money. This is because the alleged fault affects all or most residents in the Council’s area. An investigation into the other issues raised by Mr B is not justified.

The complaint

1. Mr B complains:
• The Council is wasting public money on useless schemes and by allowing staff to use Council vehicles to commute to and from work.
• The Council is wrong to provide a ‘skeleton staff’ service on public holidays.
• As a person living alone he has to pay an extra 50% council tax.
• The Council takes too long to remove dog mess after it has been reported by a resident.
• The Council is not cleaning his street regularly enough.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), 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 an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(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 Mr B.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. We cannot investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council is wasting public money. This is because such a complaint affects all council tax payers in a council’s area. This is most residents. We cannot investigate complaints about issues which affect all or most residents in a council’s area.
8. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council only providing a ‘skeleton staff’ service on public holidays. This is because Mr B has not shown that he is directly affected by this matter. So, the claimed fault by the Council has not caused Mr B a personal and significant injustice which would justify an investigation.
9. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about council tax. Council tax is charged for each property and Mr B receives a single persons discount because he lives alone. Council tax is not charged for the amount of services a resident benefits from and Mr B is not paying ‘extra’ council tax. Mr B may put in a claim to the Council for council tax support if he is on a low income and needs help paying his council tax.
10. Mr B also complains the Council takes too long to respond to requests to remove dog mess and is not cleaning his street regularly enough. In principle, these are issues we could consider but we would expect the Council to respond to such a complaint first. The Council has confirmed it is willing to consider a complaint from Mr B about these issues under the Council’s complaints procedure. Mr B may complain to the Council and if he is not satisfied with the Council’s response, he may complain to us. But, at the moment, it is too early for us to consider this complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council wasting public money because this affects all or most residents in the Council’s area. An investigation into the other issues Mr B complains about is not justified.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman