Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the way the Council handled her complaints under its complaints process. This is because there is insufficient evidence of injustice to justify an investigation given we are not investigating the core complaint issues.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the way the Council handled her complaints about housing and insurance claims.
2. Miss X complains the Council accepted one complaint but only advised her four months later it would not be progressed as it related to legal proceedings. She says this caused her distress, frustration, uncertainty, and time and trouble

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant. I also considered the Council’s letters to Miss X sent in March, July, and September 2026.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X seeks an investigation into the Council's handling of her complaints, including delays, communication issues and decisions about whether the complaint should be investigated.
7. The Council initially acknowledged Miss X’s complaint in connection with housing matters in March 2026. This initial letter also mentioned that the Council had suffered a cyber-attack. It explained its systems were down and the complaint could not be investigated until the system was back up.

8. Four months later, the Council wrote to Miss X. It said her housing complaint would not be investigated under its complaints procedure. It said this was because it was connected to legal matters and it was being considered by its legal team. It said Miss X could bring non legal issues to the Council.
9. In September, the Council wrote to Miss X to say it could not look at her complaint in connection with insurance matters. It said this was being considered by external solicitors. It explained the complaints process was not suitable for insurance claims as these were dealt via a different process.
10. In conclusion, we will not investigate the complaint-handling in isolation due to insufficient injustice. The key point is the Council initially advised Miss X about the cyber-attack affecting its services. It then later explained its complaints procedure was not suitable for legal and insurance issues. We do not pursue complaints solely about how a council managed correspondence, processed a complaint, or explained its decisions when there is a lack of injustice to justify doing so.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint as there is not enough evidence of injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman