Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Council officer’s investigation about Mr X. This is because we are unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome by doing so.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about comments made about him by the Council officer. He says the officer made inappropriate comments and spread untrue gossip about him.
2. Mr X says this has been damaging to his career and is seeking compensation, changes of policy, further meetings to correct what he says is untrue information, and for the individual officer to be disciplined.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained to the Council about the officer’s investigation.
7. Mr X said the officer had made an inappropriate comment to his employer. The Council discussed this with the officer who has no recollection of making the comment. The Council said the call was not recorded so it could not make a finding on this point.
8. Mr X also said the officer had met with other Council staff and spread untrue information about him. The Council has said this did not happen.
9. Mr X has also complained the officer ignored him when he tried to contact them. The Council said it did not have evidence that Mr X had tried to contact the officer.
10. As the call in which the comment Mr X complained about was not recorded, we would not add to the Council’s response by investigating this.
11. As the Council has said the meeting with other officers did not take place, there will be no records in that regard.
12. If the officer did not respond to Mr X’s attempts to contact them, it is unlikely this issue alone would warrant an investigation at a cost to public funds.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are not likely to achieve any worthwhile outcome by doing so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman