Summary: Mr X complains the Council’s Monitoring Officer refuses to investigate his complaint about advice the Council provided to his client in 2008. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint as we have not seen any evidence of fault in the way the Council dealt with this complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X is a solicitor acting for My Y. He complains the Council’s Monitoring Officer refuses to investigate advice he alleges the Council provided to his client in 2008.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information provide by Mr X which includes the Council’s responses to the complaint.
4. Mr X commented on the draft version of this decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X asked the Council’s Monitoring Officer to investigate a previous complaint made to the Council about advice provided to his client in 2008 about residential care fees. He said that the original act (the advice) was ‘maladministration’ and the later complaint investigation and response was unreasonable.
6. The Council told Mr X he had misunderstood the role of the Monitoring Officer. And the original complaint has been previously been considered by the Council and the Ombudsman who had decided not to investigate the matter. He confirmed there is no further action he can take.

Assessment

7. Mr X states he is making his complaint under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. But, he is essentially making the same complaint. This is, he wants the Council to consider the complaint about the advice provided to his client in 2008. The Monitoring Officer confirmed has a duty to report to the Council on any finding of maladministration by the Ombudsman, or when he finds instances of illegality or maladministration.
8. In this case the Ombudsman issued a decision in 2017, not to investigate the complaint about the advice provided. And the Council had previously investigated the complaint. Neither organisation found maladministration. Therefore, the Monitoring officer is under no duty to make a report to the Council on this matter.

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Final decision

9. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because we have not seen any evidence of fault in the way the Council decided not to investigate Mr X’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman