Summary: There was fault by the Council in providing inconsistent and incomplete information about a free swimming scheme on its websites and at its leisure centres. This affected Ms X who was wrongly charged and became reluctant to use the scheme. It also potentially led to other residents missing out or being wrongly charged. The Council will correct the information on its website, provide information leaflets, train staff and provide a refund voucher and £50 time and trouble payment to Ms X

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that:
• She was wrongly charged at a Council leisure centre for sessions which were advertised as free
• The Council offered a financial remedy in its complaint response which it then failed to provide
• The Council’s website and the leisure company’s website have unclear and contradictory information about the free sessions available to residents.
2. Since the Council investigated the complaint Ms X says that the same thing has happened again when she tried to access a free session. She says this shows no lessons have been learned by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. We may investigate matters coming to our attention during an investigation, if we consider that a member of the public who has not complained may have suffered an injustice as a result. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26D and 34E, as amended)
5. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered information provided by Ms X and the Council and the information on the relevant websites.

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What I found

7. Ms X told me that the Council has a policy that residents are eligible for a free swimming session on Fridays and Saturdays but the leisure centre had been charging residents. Ms X was concerned the policy was not being followed by centres, staff and residents were not aware of it, and the Council had not done enough to resolve matters.
8. Ms X says she was wrongly charged for two swim sessions that should have been free and complained about this in January 2019.
9. Her complaint said on 22 December she was advised family swim was just from 12 noon until 2pm and so she was charged and on 29 December she was advised family swim was from 1pm to 4pm and was charged. Ms X said the same thing had happened a few months previously. Ms X said she was a resident and held membership but was still charged against the information on the website.
10. The Council’s stage one response upheld the complaint and the Council apologised for the conflicting information Ms X had received about free swimming and noted she had been wrongly charged on two occasions. The Council confirmed the times residents could swim for free were Fridays 9am to 5pm and Saturdays 12pm to 4pm. The Council said it would issue Ms X with a credit voucher and retrain leisure centre staff to ensure they had the correct information in future.
11. Ms X asked to escalate her complaint as she felt it had not been taken seriously. She said that the Council and leisure centre websites say residents could swim free all day on Fridays and on Saturdays from 12pm to close (not 9 to 5 and 12 to 4).
12. On 1 April the Council’s stage two response addressed the issue of contradictory information on the leisure centre website, the Council’s website, the stage one response and the community leisure brochure. It accepted the information was confusing and said the leisure centre had updated its website to show that the pools closed at 5.30pm. The Council website was in the process of being updated and would show the current times and restrictions.
13. The Council said free swimming was provided until closing time in all the centres except where there was another booking in place and it was recommended customers check with the relevant centre before travelling for confirmation of session times as these are subject to change and there may be delays in updating the Council's website with this information.
14. In May 2019 Ms X told us that staff at leisure centres still knew nothing about the free swims on Saturdays as she had asked staff about this in April. She also said the information about the free swims was hard to find and many residents would not know about it. Ms X said she had stopped using the pool on Saturdays because of the continued confusion. Ms X said she had never received the free voucher offered by the Council.
15. We checked the leisure company website which had an attachment about ‘free swim Friday’ when residents could swim for free from 9am until close and ‘free swim Saturday’ when residents could swim for free from 12 noon to close. The information did not state residents had to be leisure club members.
16. When we spoke to Ms X by telephone she told us leisure centres allowed all families free sessions whether or not they were residents. Ms X also said the Council’s complaint response had been wrong to say free swims on Saturdays was only from 12 to 4pm. She said the Council had refused to display the information at the swimming pools.
17. After we contacted the Council for further information, it wrote to Ms X on 2 August. It apologised for the delay in writing to Ms X and that she had been charged in error and given incorrect information about times for free swimming sessions. The Council offered Ms X a credit voucher of £15 for two free family swims and said it could post this to her or she could collect it. Ms X chose to collect it.
18. The Council told us in response to our enquiries it was committed to ensuring the website provides clear information and has requested the required changes be made by the leisure company. It said memberships are not free and range from £5.60 a year upwards depending on the type of membership. All memberships attract a free swim on Fridays and Saturdays. If residents do not have a membership they are not entitled to a free swim.
19. When I checked the Council’s website it said all residents could swim for free at the borough’s pools on Fridays from 9am until close and on Saturdays families can also swim for free after midday. The website now states that this is available to all prepaid and pay and play members.
20. Ms X contacted us again in September 2019 to say nothing had improved at the pool as the staff were still unaware of the free times and there were no signs up. Ms X had tried to speak to the manager about this but had been unable to do so that day.
21. I rechecked the websites when writing my draft decision. The Council continued to have the correct information but any reference to free swims had been removed from the leisure company website.

Analysis

22. Ms X has now received her voucher and an apology and this remedies her original complaint. However, Ms X continued to have problems when she attended the pool. I find the Council had not done enough to alert staff or residents to the scheme following Ms X’s complaint, with the result other residents may have missed out on free swims or been wrongly charged.
23. The Council website does now show the correct information.
24. The Council said the Leisure company website would also be updated to provide the correct information. At the time of my draft decision this had not happened, or the information is too difficult to find. There was no mention of free swims on the membership or swim pages. This meant residents may be paying for more expensive memberships than they need or missing out on free sessions.

Agreed action

25. Since issuing my draft decision the Council has accepted my findings and undertaken the following actions to remedy the situation:
• It has updated the leisure company website to show the free swims
• It has updated the Council leisure centre website to show the free swims and timings on the timetable pages for those with relevant membership
• It has apologised again to Ms X and made a £50 payment to acknowledge her time and trouble bringing the complaint in addition to the refund voucher it had already issued to Ms X
• It has provided information leaflets and displayed the programme of free swims at leisure centres
• It has retrained existing permanent and temporary staff and included the information in its induction programme for new staff.

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Final decision

26. I have completed my investigation. There was fault by the Council in providing inconsistent and incomplete information about a free swimming scheme on its websites and at its leisure centres. This affected Ms X who was wrongly charged and became reluctant to use the scheme. It also potentially led to many other residents missing out or being wrongly charged. I am satisfied the actions agreed with the Ombudsman and set out above are a satisfactory outcome to Ms X’s complaint. The complaint is upheld.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman