Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council delayed investigating alleged electoral fraud by councillors. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner about events in 2021, to have used the court remedy available to him, and the Police are also better placed to consider his allegation of electoral fraud.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council and its officers deliberately delayed carrying out an investigation into his 2021 allegations of electoral fraud by councillors. Mr X says the delay meant the councillors were able to evict a key witness from the address, and the Council eventually made its decision in 2023 based on the circumstances at that time, rather than what had happened in 2021.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. We can 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. So, we do not start an investigation if we decide there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
5. The law also says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered:
• information provided by Mr X and the Council, including Mr X’s comments on an earlier version of this statement.
• the Ombudsman’s decision on a previous complaint made by Mr X.
• information on the Electoral Commission’s website.
• the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr X complained to us in late-2021, that the Council had failed to investigate his complaint that a councillor had given false information about his home address to the public and on his electoral nomination form. We did not investigate because the Council’s Returning Officer is responsible for the nomination papers, and their actions are not within the jurisdiction of the Ombudsman. We will not reconsider or revisit issues raised in that previous complaint.
8. The 12-month time restriction detailed in paragraph 3 above would apply to any parts of Mr X’s current complaint about other events/issues which arose in 2021, but which did not form part of his previous complaint to the Ombudsman. I see no good reasons why he was prevented from raising these issues sooner, so we will not investigate them now.
9. And if Mr X disagreed with the more recent decisions of the Council’s Deputy Electoral Registration Officer, that the councillors should remain on the electoral roll using the address in question, then he could have continued with his appeal to the County Court. This is the process put in place by Parliament to challenge such decisions, and I see no good reasons why Mr X should not be expected to have continued to use it. With reference to paragraph 5 above, the Ombudsman will therefore not exercise discretion to investigate this part of the complaint.
10. Furthermore, it is an offence to provide false information on an application to register to vote. So, with reference to paragraph 4 above, Mr X could also continue to pursue the matter further with the Police.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:
• we will not reconsider matters which have already been raised in a previous complaint to the Ombudsman.
• It is reasonable to expect him to have contacted us sooner about any other issues which arose in 2021.
• it is reasonable to expect him to have used the court remedy available to him, and the Police are also better placed to consider his allegation of electoral fraud.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman