Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s complaint made against a member of staff at a library. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, complains about the way he was treated by a member of staff at a library he attended and about the Council’s handling of his complaint about this matter. He seeks the dismissal or suspension of the manager involved in the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X, including the Council’s response to his complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about the way he had been treated by a member of staff at a library he had attended.
6. The Council partially upheld his complaint because while it found what the staff member had told him was correct, he should have been shown greater customer care in the relaying of the information. It apologised to Mr X but found no evidence to support his claim that the staff member had shown Mr X unconscious bias when they had spoken to him.
7. While Mr X may not be satisfied with the outcome of his complaint, and that it was the head of the department involved who oversaw the final review of his case, there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.
8. Moreover, the outcome he seeks in having the manager involved in the case dismissed or suspended is not an outcome an investigation by the Ombudsman can achieve.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council or injustice caused to Mr X to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman