Summary: We will not investigate this complaint from Ms X about the Council’s handling of a complaint related to a meeting she attended, where she says she was bullied. This is because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about how a meeting she attended was dealt with. Ms X says she wasn’t told that one officer would be attending and that during the meeting she felt ganged up on and bullied. Ms X says the Council closed her complaint without speaking to her and the person who reviewed it had a conflict of interest.

Back to top

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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

My Assessment

5. The Council considered Ms X’s concerns and spoke to the officers who attended the meeting. The Council concluded that Ms X was given the opportunity to voice her concerns during the meeting and that the officers in attendance did not consider that they had breached their duty of care towards her. The Council found that all the officers in attendance were previously known to Ms X, and that she agreed to continue the meeting with all of them present.
6. I will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation or achieve a worthwhile outcome. There are differing views as to what happened during the meeting, but we were not privy to the conversations that took place so could not reach a robust decision as to what was said.
7. I also cannot achieve the outcome that Ms X is seeking. We cannot recommend the Council remove officers from their roles. It is for the Council and not the Ombudsman to decide how staff are allocated. The Council has fully considered other suggested recommendations made by Ms X and agreed to adopt a policy to safeguard vulnerable young people who attend meetings.
8. I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Ms X’s complaint about these matters. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman