Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that the Council failed to respond to complaints she made about two councillors. Any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. Furthermore, it is unlikely any investigation by the Ombudsman would come to a different conclusion

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to respond to complaints she made about two councillors. She said that because of the delays, the councillors were still able to influence and vote on matters which affected her.

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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 consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Ms X complained to the Council’s monitoring officer in August 2022 about the actions of two councillors. She did not receive a response and chased the monitoring officer several times. The monitoring officer apologised for the delays. They provided a response to Ms X in March 2023. This explained that after consulting with the independent person, and consideration of the Code of Conduct for councillors, they had decided the threshold for an investigation had not been met. The monitoring officer provided an explanation for their reasoning.
7. We will not investigate this complaint. Ms X was unhappy the Council took longer than it should have to consider her complaints. However, the Council decided they did not warrant investigation. It is unlikely we would find fault in how the Council reached its decision or any investigation by the Ombudsman would come to a different conclusion. Therefore, any injustice experienced by Ms X from the delays is not significant enough to warrant us investigating.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant us investigating and it is unlikely any investigation by the Ombudsman would come to a different conclusion.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman