Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s administration of his goodwill payment, its communications and complaint handling. These issues stem from a complaint about the bin collection service which the Council has resolved, and we will not investigate them in isolation when we are not investigating the core matter giving rise to them. The Council’s apologies provide appropriate remedy and there is no different outcome to be achieved from investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained to the Council about his bin collections and their response to the matter. The Council offered Mr X £150 as a goodwill payment, which he accepted. Mr X complains the Council then:
1. delayed in paying him the £150 payment, which took seven weeks;
2. delayed in responding to his complaint about the Council’s processing of the payment, and its failures to reply to his correspondence.
2. The Council’s administration of the payment and his complaint about the delays and poor communications meant Mr X spent time and was caused trouble having to chase the matter. Mr X wants a financial remedy for this.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mr X, and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The core service issue which gave rise to Mr X’s complaint was his initial problems with his bin collections. The Council has resolved that issue, belatedly, by providing the goodwill payment Mr X accepted. The complaint issues Mr X has brought to us are about the delay in the Council processing his payment, and delaying its reply or not replying to his complaint and other correspondence about that payment.
7. We will not investigate a council’s complaint-handling or other related administration in isolation when we are not investigating the core issue which gave rise to them. We do not consider it to be a good use of public funds to do so. This limitation applies here so we will not pursue the matter further.
8. The Council’s responses to Mr X chasing the payment and subsequent complaints would no doubt have been annoying to him. But the Council has apologised for these issues in its complaint responses. This outcome is in line with the remedy we would have sought from the Council if we had investigated, had it not already been provided. There is no different outcome we would now achieve by investigating.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• the administration issues raised stem from a core complaint about the bin collection service which the Council has resolved, and we do not investigate such issues in isolation when we are not investigating the core matter giving rise to them;
• the Council’s apologies provide appropriate remedy for the injustices caused to Mr X by the administration matters and there is no different outcome to be achieved from us investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman