Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council library’s alleged failure to respond to Ms X’s phone calls. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions and the personal injustice Ms X experienced is minimal.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained that when she attempted to call her local library the call rang out and she did not receive a response to a message she sent for several days.

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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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Ms X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X said she contacted the library via phone several times in November 2023 after she left her personal belongings at the library by mistake. She said she was unable to get through to anyone as the call rang out several times. She sent a message to the library but did not receive a response for several days by which point her personal belongings could not be found.
6. Ms X complained to the Council and said she wanted to be compensated for her inconvenience and the loss of the personal belongings. The Council apologised but advised it could not be held responsible for loss of personal items and it would not provide compensation. The Council explained that the library main number leads to a centralised contact centre to allow library staff to deal with their customers more efficiently.
7. Ms X remains unhappy with the situation and wants us to investigate. The Ombudsman uses public money to fund its investigations, so we must ensure that we use our resources wisely. In this case, Ms X wants us to find the Council at fault for the fact she could not get through to the library that day and the eventual loss of her belongings. There is no evidence the Council has acted with fault and most recently the library phone number appears to be in good working order. I should note that even if Ms X had been able to get through to the library, there is no way of knowing whether the personal items would still have been there and even if they had, it is not fair to hold the Council responsible for the fact these items were misplaced. Whilst I appreciate Ms X’s frustration any potential injustice, she suffered due to this matter is minimal and it would not be a good use of our resources to investigate.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Ms’s complaint because an investigation would be unlikely to find fault with the Council’s actions and the personal injustice Ms X suffered is minimal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman