Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about excessive leaves from a cemetery because we are satisfied with the actions the Council has already taken and there is not enough significant injustice to warrant our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained the Council has failed to advise him how he should dispose of an excessive number of leaves and branches which have fallen onto his property from the neighbouring cemetery and failed to deal with his complaint properly.
2. Mr Y says this has caused him frustration and annoyance and he feels ignored.

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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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
4. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions a council has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
5. 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

6. I considered information Mr Y provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council initially did not respond to Mr Y ‘s complaint, following his contact in October and November 2022 and February 2023. The Council has apologised for this and explained how the correspondence was missed. It has also agreed that it would consider any leaves placed from Mr Y’s property onto cemetery land as acceptable and agreed to provide some gloves and black bags to Mr Y for him to use while he collects leaves in the near future.
8. The Council has offered a proportionate and appropriate remedy for the injustice caused by its fault in issuing an apology and agreeing for the leaves to be placed on the cemetery site. Consequently, we are satisfied with the actions the Council has taken in response to the complaint.
9. Further, our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
10. In this instance, while Mr Y may feel strongly, there is not significant enough injustice, causing a serious loss or harm, to justify our involvement in the matter so we will not investigate.
11. Also, as we are not investigating the substantive matter, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the Council dealt with the complaint, so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because we are satisfied with the actions the Council has already taken and there is not enough significant injustice to warrant our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman