Summary: Ms C complained about the management of a leisure centre. She complained about staff conduct and service provision. She also said she experienced verbal and physical abuse and was wrongly banned from the Centre. We discontinued our investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms C complained about the management of a leisure centre where she was a member. She complained about:
• Service provision.
• Staff conduct and professionalism.
• Verbal and physical abuse.
• Theft.
• Failing to follow procedures.
• The decision to ban Ms C from the leisure centre.
• Incorrect use of her personal information.
2. Ms C said she was treated unfairly and was wrongly prevented from using the facilities. She also said she experienced verbal and physical abuse. She said this caused her distress.

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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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• 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.

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

4. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint if it is about a personnel issue. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5a, paragraph 4, as amended)
6. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
7. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I spoke to Ms C and considered the information she provided along with relevant guidance.
9. Ms C and the Council had the opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I carefully considered any comments I receive before I reach my final decision.

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What I found

Background information

10. The leisure centre which is the subject of this complaint is managed by a company on behalf of the Council. The contract started in 2018. Throughout my statement I refer to it as the Centre.
11. Ms C was a member of the Centre.

What happened

12. What follows is a brief chronology it does not contain all the information I reviewed.
13. During 2019 Ms C raised several issues with the Centre staff and management. She was not satisfied with the service or the Centre’s responses, she complained to the Council. The Council gave its final response in December 2019 and directed Ms C to the Ombudsman if she remained unhappy.
14. At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 there were several allegations made against Ms C by Centre staff.
15. In February 2020 the Centre manager wrote to Ms C and told her she was banned from the Centre for six months. It told her she had a right to appeal the decision within 14 days.
16. In December 2020 Ms C complained to the Council about the Centre’s decision to ban her and several other issues.
17. In March 2021 the Council provided its final response. It told Ms C it already responded to some of the complaint issues in its stage two response in 2019. It said it would not respond to any complaints it had already considered.
18. The Council did not uphold Ms C’s complaint. Ms C remained unhappy with the response and complained to the Ombudsman.

My findings

19. I have discontinued this investigation for the following reasons.
20. The majority of the complaint is late. It relates to events from 2019. The Council told Ms C about the Ombudsman in its stage two response in 2019. It was reasonable to expect Ms C to bring her complaint to us before March 2021.
21. There are parts of the complaint from early 2020, including the decision to ban Ms C from the Centre for six months. However, I did not investigate these because:
• The decision and events were closely linked to the issues in 2019 and were a continuation of the same matters.
• From the information I reviewed there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
22. A lot of Ms C’s complaints are about issues that affect other people or groups. Therefore, any potential injustice is not Ms C’s. Those affected by the alleged fault should make their own complaints.
23. There are other parts of Ms C’s complaint where there is not significant injustice to justify our involvement.
24. Ms C should complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) about her freedom of information requests and use of her personal information/ data.
25. Ms C should report any allegations of theft and assault to the Police.

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Final decision

26. I discontinued my investigation

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman