Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his complaint about how he was treated by staff at a leisure centre. We will not investigate the complaint because an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about the Council’s handling of his complaint about how he was treated by staff at a leisure centre run on behalf of the Council. He says this has had a negative impact on his mental wellbeing.

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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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X and the Council. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

4. In September 2020 Mr X contacted the Council to complain about how he had been treated by staff at a leisure centre run on the Council’s behalf.
5. As he did not receive an update from the officer he had spoken to about the matter, Mr X raised a formal complaint with the Council in December.
6. The officer rang Mr X to apologise for the oversight and sent him a letter in response to Mr X’s Stage 1 complaint. The officer formally apologised and confirmed that managers at the centre were keen to meet him there to discuss his complaint in person, to have the opportunity to show him around the centre and to learn from his experiences with a view to improving the customer experience in the future. A date was agreed for the meeting in January 2021 but due to a national lockdown caused by the COVID pandemic, the centre had to close and the meeting could not take place. Mr X was notified of this and told the visit would be rescheduled when the lockdown restrictions were eased. In the meantime, the centre operated as a lateral flow testing site.
7. Mr X escalated his complaint which was heard by the Council’s Appeals and Complaints Panel. The Panel did not uphold the complaint and noted that the issues Mr X had raised about people with mental and physical disabilities using the centre were to be addressed at the future meeting which was the way forward agreed by the parties.
8. Mr X also raised two further queries in relation to the operation of the leisure centre during the lockdown which the Council addressed in an email sent in February 2021.

Assessment

9. It is unfortunate the national lockdown meant the meeting at the centre agreed by Mr X and planned for January 2021 did not take place. However, as the lockdown restrictions are being eased, this can now be arranged.
10. The meeting appears to be the most suitable way of addressing the concerns raised by Mr X and I do not consider there are any outstanding issues which warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman, or that an investigation would be likely to reach a different outcome.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman