Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council delayed removing former residents of his property from the electoral register and did not handle his complaint properly. The Council has not caused Mr X injustice and has amended the electoral register.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council delayed removing former occupiers at his address from the electoral register. He says he received polling cards for people no longer resident. The Council needs to improve procedures such as consulting council tax.
2. Mr X complains the Council’s complaint handling was poor. It delayed replying to him and did not deal with his complaint at stage 2 of its procedure. Mr X says the Council caused him stress, inconvenience, and discriminated against him. He says it should pay compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates 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. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information and comments provided by the complainant and the Council. I have clarified the position of who is registered to vote at Mr X’s home.

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My assessment

5. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice:
6. In March 2022 Mr X told the Council the former residents moved out 6 months earlier. The Council confirmed to him (and has confirmed to this office) that it has removed the former occupants from the electoral register. The people registered to vote at the address share Mr X’s surname. The matter is therefore resolved.
7. The complaint handling has not caused injustice. The Council explained its position in a letter dated 8 April. The Ombudsman will not normally investigate complaint handling when the substantive matter is not being investigated and will not do so here.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council delayed removing former residents of his property from the electoral register and did not handle his complaint properly. The Council has not caused Mr X injustice and has amended the electoral register.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman