Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council has failed to take action against Mr X’s neighbour for leaving their rubbish bins outside his home. This is because the injustice caused to Mr X is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X has complained to the Council four times about his neighbour leaving their rubbish bins outside his property, including one occasion when it was left there for fifteen days. Mr X is dissatisfied that the Council has decided to take no action and does not feel the Council has properly addressed his complaint. This has caused Mr X stress.

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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))
3. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We recognise that Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s response and he has experienced some inconvenience in complaining. But we do not consider the injustice arising from this, or from the initial matter of the bins being left outside his home, represents injustice serious enough to warrant our further involvement or the use of public funds to investigate.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not affected to a degree that would warrant our involvement.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman