Summary: We will not investigate this complaint alleging the Council lost Miss X’s property. This is because it is reasonable to expect Miss X to take her claim for lost possessions to court. We also would not investigate her concerns about the Council not responding to her complaint or her requests for information. This is because we do not look at complaints handling when we are not looking at the underlying matter. And the Information Commissioner is better placed to look at Miss X’s concerns about missing information.

The complaint

1. Miss X says the Council failed to resolve her complaint concerning missing property that was stored by the Council after she left temporary accommodation. She also says it failed to respond to her complaint and requests for information.
2. Miss X wants the Council to respond to her insurance claim, complaint and requests for information.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant which includes the Council’s responses. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council denies liability for Miss X’s property saying it took reasonable steps to safeguard it and that it gave Miss X several opportunities to collect it. It says Miss X confirmed she had collected the valuable items and any remaining items were cleared after the notified deadline. It advised Miss X of her right to take legal action.
7. We will not investigate. This is because it is reasonable to expect Miss X to take her claim to court. I cannot decide whether the Council was negligent and have no powers to enforce any award of damages. So, I would usually expect someone in Miss X’s position to seek a remedy in the small claims court. The small claims procedure has been designed to be easy to use and, if necessary, Miss X can get advice from the citizens advice bureau to start her claim.
8. Where we are not looking at the underlying matters, we will not separately investigate a complaint about the handling of the complaints. This is because it would not be a proportionate use of Ombudsman’s resources.
9. Finally, turning to Miss X’s complaint about the Council not responding to her request for information, we also will not investigate. This is because it is better addressed by the Office of the Information Commissioner, which is the most suitable body as the regulator for information rights.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about her property as it is reasonable to expect her to go to court. And we will not investigate the concerns about the Council’s handling of her complaint as it would not be proportionate. Concerns about the Council failing to provide information are best addressed by the Information Commissioner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman