Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about leisure centre membership and payment refunds from 2022. this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s leisure management company failing to cancel his membership or apply freezes to it at his request in 2022 and again in 2023. He says he should receive refunds for the periods when his direct debit was taken but he had notified he was not using his membership.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he asked the Council to suspend his pool membership for a period in 2022. He says he was charged for a period despite this and he complained in August 2022. He complained to the body which had previously dealt with membership payments and it advised him by email that he needed to contact the company set up to manage the pool service because it deal with membership issues. It says he has always been advised to contact the management company about his membership issues.
6. Mr X disputes he was correctly advised to do this in 2022 and the Council says it clearly told him. In 2023 he continued to contact the payments authority about further membership fees and it advised him that it could not help. He used the management company’s complaints procedure later and when this was exhausted he made a formal complaint to the Council and to us in 2024.
7. The time for receiving complaints is from when someone became aware of the matter they wish to complain about, not when they complained to the Council or it issued its final response. We would expect someone to complain to us within a year, even if they were dissatisfied with the time the complaints procedure was taking. It was reasonable for Mr X to complain to us within 12 months of his first concerns about his membership payments and refunds.

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Final decision

8. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about leisure centre membership and payment refunds from 2022. this complaint which was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman