Leeds City Council (22 011 870)
Category : Environment and regulation > Health and safety
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Jan 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of an insurance claim and complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of an insurance claim and complaint which arose out of damage caused to his vehicle by a Council vehicle.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X made an insurance claim and a complaint about damage caused to his vehicle by a Council vehicle which the Council addressed under its two separate procedures for insurance claims and complaints.
- The matter of the insurance claim falls outside our jurisdiction. This is because a complainant has the right to take a council to court if they are dissatisfied with a decision on their insurance claim. As we reasonably expect complainants to make use of this alternative remedy, we will not investigate this matter.
- While Mr X remains dissatisfied with the response he received to his complaint by the Council, we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman