Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a refuse operative being verbally abusive to him and his wife. We could not add to the Council’s investigation or achieve anything more.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has not appropriately investigated his complaint that a refuse operative working on behalf of the Council was verbally abusive towards him and his wife. He wants the Council to fully investigate his complaint and provide him with evidence of the actions taken against the employee.

Back to top

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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• 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), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

5. In its final complaint response, the Council explained what action had been taken in response to his complaint. It said the employee’s supervisor had spoken with them about the incident, but the employee denied that events occurred as Mr X described. It said as there was no other evidence to consider, it was unable to investigate further. It said this did not mean Mr X was not believed, just that there was insufficient evidence to reach a finding of fault. It said it had provided advise to all its crew members to try and prevent a similar incident recurring.
6. The Council accepted the stage one response had lacked details and failed to reassure Mr X that it had appropriately investigated the matter. It apologised to him for this.
7. We will not investigate this complaint as we could not add to the Council’s investigation. The Council has explained to Mr X what action it has taken. Due to the differing accounts and lack of any other evidence, it is unlikely an investigation by us would be able to reach a different outcome.
8. Mr X wants more details about the investigation, but we could not achieve this. We would not expect the Council or the refuse company working on its behalf to provide Mr X with the details of a staff conduct investigation or tell him what, if any, disciplinary proceedings had been taken against the employee. This is because an employer is obliged to protect the personal information of the employee. The Council has explained this to Mr X. We also cannot ask organisations to discipline staff members.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation or achieve a different outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman