Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X not receiving a COVID-19-related business grant. Since Mr X’s complaint to us, the Council has paid him a grant. We cannot achieve significantly more than that.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council wrongly said it had not received his application for a business grant and that the Council had spent all its grant funding too soon. He said this meant he did not receive a grant, which worsened his business’ financial problems from not being able to operate during the COVID-19 restrictions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. This complaint involves events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government introduced a range of new and frequently updated rules and guidance during this time. We can consider whether the Council followed the relevant legislation, guidance and our published “Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19”.
3. 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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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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. Around the time of the Council’s final response to Mr X’s complaint (which said the Council was not at fault), the Council received more funding from the government for business grants. The Council then gave Mr X a grant of £4,750, shortly after Mr X had contacted us. That amount is the same as the maximum amount the Council had said it had given in the previous round of grants to businesses similar to Mr X’s.
7. Mr X said he knew of other people with similar businesses receiving significantly more. From what he has described, at least one of those businesses was in a different council’s area. There is no expectation these grants should operate in the same way in different areas. Nor is it clear that the other businesses’ circumstances, and the grant schemes in question, were identical to Mr X’s.
8. The important point here is that the grant the Council has paid Mr X matches the maximum he would have received if the Council had given him a grant earlier. In the circumstances, we cannot reasonably expect to achieve significantly more than that. Therefore it would be disproportionate to devote time and public money to investigating the complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot achieve anything more meaningful.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman