Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council damaging her fence. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains her fence was damaged in 2022 by overgrown vegetation on Council owned land. She also complains the Council delayed in responding to her 2022 complaint. It did not issue a final response until August 2023.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Miss X contacted us on this matter in mid-2023 before her complaint had completed the Council’s complaints procedure. We explained it needed to complete the Council’s complaints procedure first.
8. The Council issued its final response to Miss X’s complaint a few weeks later, in August 2023. This letter signposted Miss X back to this office if she remained dissatisfied with its response and wanted to pursue her complaint further.
9. Miss X has waited over two years since receiving the Council’s final response before complaining to us about it.
10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter. The complaint to us should have been made much sooner. It now lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to consider it now so long after the Council issued its final response.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman