East Staffordshire Borough Council (24 005 431)
Category : Other Categories > Councillor conduct and standards
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Aug 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that Mr X was banned from a Council building and placed on a database after the Council considered comments Mr X made to staff were abusive. This is because the complaint is made late and there are not good reasons to investigate now.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council was wrong to ban him from a Council building and place him on a database of people considered to be violent, aggressive or threatening. Mr X feels the Council has victimised and bullied him and is wrong to have extended the ban recently.
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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X has known about the matter he complains about since May 2023 but did not complain to us until July 2024. As Mr X’s complaint is not made within a year, we consider it to be late. I note that Mr X indicates the delay in him coming to us is because he was seeking advice about what to do but I do not consider this to be a good reason for us to investigate now. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us within a year as this stipulation is provided on our website.
- The Council has told me that Mr X has not made a formal complaint to it about its decision to continue the ban. We generally must allow a council the chance to respond to a complaint before we can assess it and so Mr X’s next step ought to be to make a formal complaint to the Council. Mr X can complain to us if he is dissatisfied once the Council has finished dealing with the complaint.
- For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is made late and there are not good reasons to investigate now. Mr X can ask us to consider the Council’s recent decision to extend the ban once he has completed the Council’s complaint procedure.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman