Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about a Council Housing Officer’s behaviour when she wanted advice on the high rent and disrepair issues at her privately rented property. There is not enough injustice to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the way a Council Housing Officer treated her at a meeting when she approached the Council for help with her privately rented property. She alleges the Officer’s actions led to her landlord seeking repossession of the property. She wants a full apology for the way she was treated.

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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
• 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The Council has responded to Miss X’s complaints about the Housing Officer on three occasions – informally and under both stages of its corporate complaint procedure. It has apologised that the interaction caused Miss X distress and made her situation worse, as this was not the Officer’s intention. The Council also explained the limitations of the support it can provide to residents that are not homeless.
6. 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.
7. The Council has already provided the outcome (an apology) Miss X is seeking by bringing this complaint to us. There is nothing more we could meaningfully achieve by investigating this matter further. There is unlikely to be any other evidence for us to examine which would justify our involvement.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of significant injustice to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman