Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s loss of a revenue contract for the maintenance and operation of a car park. This is because the issue affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area and it is therefore not subject to investigation under the Local Government Act 1974.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council failed to comply with the terms of a contract for the maintenance and operation of a car park. He says that as a result the owner of the car park has terminated the contract, resulting in a shortfall of around £15million in revenue income.

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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’.
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 primary function of the Ombudsman is to remedy injustice caused to individual members of the public as a result of fault by local authorities and care providers.
6. The Council’s actions in this matter do not affect Mr X personally; they affect ‘all or most’ of the people in its area, indirectly, through the impact of the contract termination on the public purse. It is therefore caught by the exclusion set out at Paragraph 3 above.

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Final decision

7. We will cannot investigate this complaint. This is because it is about a matter which affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman