Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s use of public funds to support the setting up of a new company. This is because any personal injustice to Mr X has been remedied and we could not add anything to the outcome provided. Additionally, the impact of the Council’s actions on the public purse affects ‘all or most’ of the people in its area. It is therefore excluded from investigation under the Local Government Act 1974.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has used public funds to help set up a new company providing care and support to adults with learning difficulties.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. The actions Mr X complains about have not caused him significant personal injustice. Any injustice that was caused has been remedied, and the Council has apologised. We could not add anything further to this outcome through another investigation.
6. While Mr X says he is concerned the Council has failed in its duty of care to the service users and to properly protect the public purse, we will not investigate these points further.
7. Mr X’s concerns about the safety and welfare of the service users are general and speculative and he does not have standing to complain on the service users’ behalf. We cannot investigate any complaint about the impact of the Council’s payments to the company to the public generally as it is caught by the exclusion set out at Paragraph 3.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the matter does not cause Mr X significant personal injustice and any impact on public finances is a matter which affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area and is therefore excluded from investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman