Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a matter affecting his son. This is because the Council’s actions did not cause Mr X significant injustice.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of a matter which affects his son’s, Mr Y’s, business. He says the Council’s actions have impacted Mr Y’s mental health and he has been put to time, trouble and distress to pursue the matter on his own behalf.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I reviewed Mr X’s complaint and the Council’s response. I shared my draft decision with Mr X and invited his comments.

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What I found

4. Mr Y runs a business from a premises owned by the Council. Mr X loaned Mr Y £15,000 to start the business but has no ongoing involvement with it.
5. Nevertheless, following issues between Mr Y and the Council concerning the premises, Mr X complained about the way it had handled the matter. He is concerned about the impact of the Council’s actions on his son’s business and says he has wasted a considerable amount of his time on the matter. He is not happy with the Council’s handling of his complaint and says this has caused him distress and further wasted time.
6. Our role is not that of a regulator. We have no power to recommend or carry out disciplinary proceedings against individual members of staff and it is not for us to report alleged non-compliance with legislation to the Health & Safety Executive and the Environment Agency. If Mr X wishes to do this he may contact them himself.
7. We investigate complaints of maladministration and service failure where the alleged fault has caused a significant injustice to the person complaining. The substantive issue in this case concerns the actions of the Council which impacted Mr Y. Mr Y has raised his own complaint about this and it is for him to pursue it, if he wishes to do so.
8. While it is understandable Mr X would want to help his son, this is primarily Mr Y’s complaint. Mr X is affected by the matter only as a result of his decision to become involved in the dispute between Mr Y and the Council and to complain about its handling of the matter; prior to this, the Council’s actions did not directly affect Mr X. The injustice Mr X describes is also not significant enough to warrant investigation or any personal remedy for him.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council’s actions did not cause Mr X significant personal injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman