Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council is in the process of selling some land without the approval of the full Council as required by its constitution. This is because we cannot investigate complaints which affect all or most of the people in the Council’s area and Mr B has not personally suffered significant enough injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr B, complained that the Council is in the process of selling some land without the approval of the full Council as required by its constitution.

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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’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the information Mr B provided. Mr B has had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

6. Mr B emailed the Council to raise his concern that it was acting in breach of its constitution. The Council officer who replied to him said he was satisfied there was no breach of the relevant Financial Procedure Rule.
7. A complaint about a council acting in breach of its constitution is something that may affect all or most people in its area. The Local Government Act 1974 expressly excludes complaints which affect all or most of the people in a council’s area from our jurisdiction. In any case, we consider complaints of injustice caused by alleged faults, not complaints of fault for their own sake. So we must consider the impact on Mr B of what has happened. Mr B has not personally suffered significant enough injustice over and above others in his area to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate complaints which affect all or most of the people in the Council’s area and Mr B has not personally suffered significant enough injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman