Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council seeking to obtain an injunction against the complainant. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Mr X, says:
• a council officer should have interviewed him before deciding whether to apply for the civil injunction against him;
• the witness statement submitted by the officer during the court proceedings contained false information;
• there was delay by the Council in responding to his subsequent complaint, and it did not ask to see any evidence to support the concerns he had raised.
2. Mr X thinks the Council should apologise and reassess whether the officer is able to perform his role properly.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We can 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 an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

5. We can consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. But if there was no fault in the decision-making process, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
6. And we cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
7. Finally, 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.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council, which included their complaint correspondence and the officer’s witness statement.
9. I have also considered our Assessment Code, and the Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Guide.

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My assessment

10. With reference to paragraph 6 above, the Ombudsman has no power to investigate any parts of the complaint about the content of documents submitted during court proceedings, so we cannot consider whether the officer made false claims in his witness statement.
11. The Ombudsman also has no power to recommend the Council takes disciplinary action against its staff members.
12. We can, in principle, consider whether the Council acted with fault prior to making its decision to start the court proceedings. However, it was ultimately for the Council to decide whether it had sufficient evidence at the time to proceed with the injunction application. The Council says it had received reports of ASB from Mr X’s neighbours, as well as further information from the Police. It also says there is no requirement for the subject of an injunction application to be interviewed prior to the application being made. I have also seen nothing in the Council’s procedures to suggest it must interview the subject of ASB allegations before initiating court proceedings. Therefore, I find there is not enough evidence of fault here to justify the Ombudsman investigating this part of the complaint.
13. As the Ombudsman will not investigate the substantive issues being complained about, we will not pursue Mr X’s associated concerns about the Council’s complaints process in isolation.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• We cannot investigate the commencement or conduct of court proceedings;
• There is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council reached its decision to apply for an injunction;
• We cannot recommend disciplinary action against Council staff; and,
• We will not pursue complaints about complaint procedures on their own.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman