Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s decision to treat him as a vexatious complainant and its placing of restrictions on his contact with it. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because as the Council has now removed the restrictions there are insufficient grounds to warrant a formal investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council’s decision to treat him as a vexatious complainant and impose restrictions on his contact with it was discriminatory and wholly unjustified and that this resulted in the curtailment of his right to proper and effective local representation.

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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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X and the Council. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

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What I found

4. For over a year Mr X has been concerned about waste charges made by the Council.
5. Separate to legal proceedings now taking place, Mr X’s last contact with the Council about the matter was made in May 2020.
6. In August and September Mr X’s MP contacted the Council via email about the issue. Mr X says this action by the MP was taken without his knowledge.
7. Having already sent out several responses to Mr X about the matter, and believing the MP’s contact had been made at the instigation of Mr X, the Council decided to invoke its policy in dealing with vexatious complainants and placed restrictions on Mr X’s contact with the Council.
8. The Council told Mr X it would still consider any new complaints he made but that it might refuse them if they were considered to be unreasonable. It said it would monitor the arrangements and review matters in 3 months’ time when they might be removed or continued.
9. Unhappy that contact from his MP, which he had not instigated, had prompted the Council to impose the restrictions, Mr X complained to the Council and then the Ombudsman about the matter.
10. In responding to our enquiry about when the Council would be reviewing Mr X’s case, the Council decided to look again at the matter. Having done so it has now decided it would not be appropriate for the restrictions on contact to remain in place and so it has lifted them with immediate effect and removed Mr X’s entry from the vexatious complainants list. In taking this action the Council took into account that it had been Mr X’s MP and not Mr X that had made contact in August/September 2020.

Assessment

11. As the Council has now taken the action outlined above, I do not consider there are any outstanding matters which warrant a formal investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because as the Council has now removed the restrictions there are insufficient grounds to warrant a formal investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman