Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of concerns raised by Mr X on behalf of Mr Y, a disabled service user. We cannot determine whether discrimination occurred, as only the courts can decide this. An investigation is unlikely to achieve a different outcome or add to the responses already provided.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains on behalf of Mr Y, a disabled adult. Mr X says staff at a leisure centre operating on the Council’s behalf treated Mr Y less favourably because of his disability. He says the Council failed to recognise or address discrimination when responding to the complaint. He says this caused Mr Y distress and reduced his confidence in using public services. Mr X wants the Council to acknowledge discrimination, apologise, provide compensation, and require disability awareness training.

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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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.
4. Organisations will often be able to show they have properly taken account of the Equality Act if they have considered the impact their decisions will have on the individuals affected and these decisions can be challenged, reviewed or appealed.
5. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them. Organisations will often be able to show they have properly taken account of the Equality Act if they have considered the impact their decisions will have on the individuals affected and these decisions can be challenged, reviewed or appealed.
9. The Council considered the complaint at both stage one and stage two of its complaint’s procedure. It explained the information it relied on and set out why it did not accept that the actions taken amounted to discrimination.
10. Although Mr X disagrees with the Council’s conclusions, I have not seen independent evidence that would allow the Ombudsman to reach a different substantive view from the Council. We cannot resolve factual disputes about what happened at the time or substitute our judgment for that of the Council where it reached a decision within its discretion.
11. As we cannot determine discrimination and the Council has already acknowledged the distress caused, we are unlikely to achieve a further meaningful outcome for Mr Y by investigating. We could not require the Council to accept liability for discrimination, pay compensation for it, or secure outcomes beyond those already available through the complaints process.
12. We will not investigate this complaint because we are unlikely to achieve a different outcome.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint because we are unlikely to achieve a different outcome or add to the responses already provided

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman