Manchester City Council (22 014 765)
Category : Benefits and tax > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Feb 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to refuse an application for a small business grant. This is because the complaint is made late.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains that the Council wrongly refused his application for a grant for small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr X would like the grant paid.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- In August 2020, Mr X applied for a small business grant. The Council did not respond, so Mr X complained. The Council upheld Mr X’s complaint because it had not informed him of the outcome of his application. However, the Council told Mr X that his application had been unsuccessful and explained to him why.
- I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because his complaint is made late and I see no good reason to exercise our discretion and investigate it now. The Council sent its final response to Mr X’s complaint in April 2021, in which it explained his next step was to complain to the Ombudsman. Mr X continued to correspond with the Council, and it again referred him to the Ombudsman.
- Mr X says he did not complain to us in 2021, as the Council had started legal proceedings against him to recover unpaid business rates. I have considered this point but do not consider the Council’s actions in recovering unpaid rates prevented Mr X from complaining to us. Furthermore, these proceedings concluded almost a year before Mr X raised his complaint to us. I see no good reason why he could not have complained to us sooner.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman