Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to Mr X’s reports of unsafe working practices at his local supermarket. This is because an investigation is unlikely to find fault by the Council and because the injustice claimed by Mr X is insufficient to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains the Council has not done enough to address public safety at his local supermarket where he says he has avoided four near misses due to a hazard caused by floor brushing.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• 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 by Mr X and the Council, including its response to his complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about its inadequate response to reports of near-misses he said he had had in his local supermarket over a number of years involving the use of brushes.
6. The Council explained to Mr X that the incidents he had reported were not at a level which required further action beyond it contacting the store to establish whether it had investigated the near misses Mr X had reported which the store had confirmed it had.
7. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. We are funded by the public purse and have an obligation to use the funds allocated to us in an effective, efficient and economic manner. This means that we will not investigate complaints where neither fault by the Council nor the injustice claimed by the complainant are at a level which warrant the use of our resources.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to find fault by the Council and because the injustice claimed by Mr X is insufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman