Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to a complaint about tree felling. This is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council did not properly respond to his complaint about tree felling and a report of a stolen item. He said he had wasted his time chasing complaint responses from the Council. He would like the Council to apologise, retrain staff and respond to his queries.

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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 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained the Council failed to respond to his complaint about tree felling and a report of a stolen item within the timescales of its complaints policy.
6. In its complaint response, the Council apologised for the delay in responding to Mr X’s complaint. It said the complaints team had been under service pressure and a backlog had accrued. The Council said an action plan had been put in place including a restructure of the complaints team, additional staff and new software to help monitor complaints and performance.
7. We will not investigate this complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. The Council apologised for the delay in responding to Mr X’s complaint, and explained what measures it had put in place to improve complaint handling. This apology is appropriate and remedies any injustice caused to Mr X for the delayed response.
8. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
9. While I appreciate Mr X's concerns about the Council’s delayed complaint responses, I do not consider the issue complained about caused them a significant personal injustice to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman