London Borough of Havering (25 020 443)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Council’s response to a statutory complaint. The Council has upheld the complaint and agreed to remedy Ms X’s injustice by making a recognition payment. Further investigation by us would therefore not be proportionate.
The complaint
- Ms X complained the Council had failed to issue a stage two response to her statutory complaint within required timeframes. She said the council was causing ongoing distress by failing to deal with the matter.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Ms X complained the Council had not provided a stage two response to her statutory complaint, more than 65 working days after she had requested it.
- If we investigated this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault because it has accepted there is a delay.
- We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused to Ms X by making a payment of £50 for each month of delay, to resolve the complaint early.
Agreed action
- To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will make a payment to Ms X within one month of the decision to put things right. It will also issue its stage two response.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Ms X.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman