Summary: We will not investigate how the Council handled Mr X’s complaint about a councillor who blocked him from their social media account. There is not enough evidence of fault or injustice to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about how the Council considered his complaint against a councillor who blocked him from their online social media account.
2. He says this has disadvantaged him because he cannot see information the councillor posts about a Council committee they chair.
3. He wants the councillor to unblock him from their account.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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 how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

8. Following Mr X’s complaint about a councillor, the Council’s Monitoring Officer carried out an investigation. They determined that the councillor was acting in their formal capacity when they posted their comment on their social media site, but that there was no breach of the Code of Conduct.
9. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to substitute our decision for one correctly made by a council. In this case, the evidence demonstrates the Monitoring Officer considered the individual circumstances of Mr X’s complaint and reached a decision that was in line with the Council’s Code of Conduct for Councillors. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
10. But in any case, we would not investigate. Mr X wants the councillor to unblock him so he can access their account. No one can compel someone to do that. And although Mr X feels frustrated that he had been blocked by the councillor, this is not enough injustice to warrant an investigation.
11. Mr X is unhappy with the amount of time the Council took to handle his complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, where we have decided not to deal with the substantive issue. I will not investigate this matter further.

Back to top

Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault or injustice to warrant an investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman