Summary: We cannot investigate how the Council requested the postponement of the May 2026 local elections as this impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is not within our remit.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council breached regulations and its constitution when it failed to publish its decision to request election postponement, in its monthly forward plan. Mr X says he has been impacted personally and psychologically by having his vote taken away. Mr X wants the request to postpone the elections to be withdrawn.

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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 something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
4. We 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. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. In January 2026, the Council asked the Government to postpone its May 2026 local elections, in response to the Government’s invitation for councils engaged in local government reorganisation to submit such requests. The Government considered the Council’s request and is to bring forward legislation to allow it, and several other councils, to postpone local elections for one year.
8. I note what Mr X says about how he feels to be losing his vote, but the postponement of elections impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area and is not something therefore that we can investigate, as per paragraph three.
9. The Council has acknowledged the notice of the request for postponement was not published on its website as intended and that this was in breach of its regulations and constitution. It did not, however, consider this affected the legality of the Cabinet’s decision. The Council did though inform the Secretary of State about the omission so he could consider whether it was relevant to his decision making as to whether the date of the elections should be changed. Notwithstanding this, the Secretary of State approved the Council’s request to postpone the elections.
10. We cannot investigate this decision as we have no legal remit over Government decisions and so there is no meaningful outcome to be achieved by our investigating, in any case.

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Final decision

11. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so it is outside our legal remit.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman