Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to treat him as an unreasonable complainant. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because it is unlikely we will find evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council is wrong to treat him as an unreasonable complainant in pursuing past events which he says have significantly affected his family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered the additional information he provided.

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What I found

4. In June 2020 the Council decided to invoke its Unreasonable Complaints Policy and Procedure and treat Mr X as an unreasonable complainant.
5. Its decision to take this action related to Mr X’s ongoing contact with it about matters dating back to 2012.
6. Unhappy with this, Mr X contacted the Council and it carried out a review of its decision, but it found no evidence to suggest its decision had been incorrect.
7. While it did note that it had taken 5 months to investigate and respond to the letter Mr X had sent in January 2020, it explained this had been the result of the complexities of his case and the national pandemic.

Assessment

8. In responding to complaints made in earlier years, the Ombudsman has previously told Mr X why we would not investigate the issues at the heart of his complaints to the Council. We will not reopen these earlier cases.
9. With regard to the Council’s more recent action in invoking its Unreasonable Complaint Policy against Mr X, I have seen no evidence to suggest there was fault in the way it handled this matter and no grounds which warrant an investigation.
10. While I note the delay in dealing with Mr X’s case from January 2020, the Council has explained why this was and this is not a matter we will investigate in isolation from the substantive issue.
11. In responding to my draft decision Mr X has provided a quantity of documents which relate to the 2012 issues. However, it has already been explained that we will not look again at them and I have seen nothing which would lead me to change our position.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we will find evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman