Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s hygiene score of his food retail business which has caused him financial loss and inconvenience. The Ombudsman will not investigate as it is unlikely he would find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s hygiene score of his food retail business which has caused him financial loss and inconvenience. Mr X complains the Council has denied his right to appeal.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I have considered what Mr X said in his complaint, the Council’s complaint responses and its response to Mr X’s informal appeal.

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What I found

5. The Council inspected Mr X’s food retail business in late 2019. It awarded Mr X’s business a hygiene rating of 2 and served a Hygiene Improvement Notice (the Notice) on him to address issues relating to hand and food washing.
6. Mr X complied with the Notice but remained unhappy about the hygiene score. Mr X contacted the Magistrates’ Court to appeal against it. The Council explained to Mr X that he could not appeal to the Court about this, as the Court appeal relates to the Notice (not the hygiene score), and Mr X had complied with this. The Council itself can consider appeals against hygiene scores and it did this. It advised Mr X why his appeal was unsuccessful.
7. The Council has offered to meet with Mr X to explain the process. It has advised Mr X about the process for his business to be re-scored.

Assessment

8. We cannot question the Council hygiene score of Mr X’s business as there is no indication of fault in the way it carried out this assessment.
9. The Council has considered Mr X’s appeal against the score and advised him what to do to address this. We cannot add to this.
10. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. My decision is that the Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because he cannot question the Council’s hygiene score or add to what the Council has already told Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman