Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (24 009 559)
Category : Environment and regulation > Antisocial behaviour
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Nov 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council dealt with reports of anti-social behaviour. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to justify an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council’s investigation into his complaint about the Council’s consideration of his reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) was poor.
- He says the Council should conduct a serious investigation and explain why he has been denied the opportunity to have his case to be dealt with by the ASB team.
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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X says he was degraded and humiliated by an ASB officer.
- The Council’s responses show it found no evidence of fault in the way the officer dealt with his concerns. It says :
- Its’ records show the officer tried to contact Mr X and provided diary sheets, and contact details
- advised Mr X his initial concerns did not meet the threshold for ASB
- liaised with the police
- followed standards practices and procedures; and
- it found no evidence of wrongdoing by the officer.
- The Council says Mr X did not provide enough evidence of ASB to enable it to take further action.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council dealt with his reports of ASB to justify an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman