St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council (25 020 944)
Category : Other Categories > Commercial and contracts
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council making a false statement because any injustice is not significant enough.
The complaint
- Miss X, as a manager of a care provider, complains the Council provided false statements about the business, causing financial and reputational loss.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Miss X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X refers to a statement made by the Council in 2024 that it had suspended placements to the care provider temporarily but would now be happy to make placements.
- Miss X says this conflicts with statements made by the Council in 2025 confirming it had suspended placements due to an inadequate CQC rating and that this remained until CQC reinspected.
- The complaint about a statement made in 2024 is out on time with no good reason to exercise discretion. Further, any error in the 2024 statement did not cause significant injustice to the care provider, as it is clear the suspension remained in any case.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman