Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the investigation of a social services referral. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council:
• Failed to take enforcement action against anti-social behaviour from his neighbour.
• Did not properly investigate safeguarding concerns.
• Shared an email internally without his consent.
• Investigated his complaint poorly.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X has a child, Y. Mr X says there has been ongoing anti-social behaviour from his neighbour. Mr X says this is having a negative impact on his household including Y.
6. We have already considered a complaint from Mr X about the Council’s enforcement actions against his neighbours’ anti-social behaviour. We will not consider this matter again.
7. Mr X complains the Council failed to take action following a safeguarding referral by Y’s school.
8. The Council say they looked into the concerns raised by the school but the concerns did not meet the threshold of a safeguarding referral. I have seen insufficient evidence of fault on this point to justify investigating further.
9. Mr X also complains the Council shared an email internally without his consent. The Council shared an email from Mr X with a member of staff involved in the case. I have seen insufficient evidence of fault on this point to justify investigating further.
10. Mr X also complains of poor complaint handling. We will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint as it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint handling when we are not looking at the substantive issue.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman