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

  1. 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.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

  1. 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.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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