Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s Trading Standards team’s decision not to take formal action against a local business. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault affecting its decision. The decision also does not cause Mr X significant injustice and it is unlikely investigation would achieve any worthwhile outcome for him.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council’s Trading Standards team failed to take appropriate action against a local business for refusing to provide a service offered in its promotional material.

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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 may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

4. We are not an appeal body. This means we do not take a second look at a decision to decide if it was wrong. Instead, we look at the processes an organisation followed to make its decision. If we consider it followed those processes correctly we cannot question whether the decision was right or wrong.
5. The Council has addressed Mr X’s concerns about its decision and there is not enough evidence of fault in the way it was reached to warrant further investigation. In addition, the Council’s decision does not cause Mr X significant injustice. The injustice he claims stems from the business’s refusal to provide the service he wanted but the Council could not force it to. Investigation is therefore unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome for Mr X.

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Final decision

6. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council causing Mr X significant injustice. It is also unlikely we could achieve anything for Mr X by investigating further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman