Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s complaint’s handling. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is insufficient injustice caused by a failure in the complaints procedure alone to justify an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mr X says the Council has again failed to deal with his complaint according to its complaint procedure.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

5. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we do not consider he has suffered a significant enough injustice because of a failure in the Council’s complaint handling. Such an investigation would be a disproportionate use of public funds.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman