London Borough of Tower Hamlets (25 027 555)
Category : Other Categories > Leisure and culture
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 07 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s poor complaint handling. A further investigation by us is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council delayed responding to his stage one and stage two complaints. He said the Council is not following its complaints procedure and missed its own deadline to respond to his stage two complaint.
- Mr X says the delay in responding to his stage two complaint means his concerns about the poor management of the Council’s leisure centre remain unresolved.
- Mr X would like the Council to respond to his stage two complaint, review its complaints procedures and offer him a financial remedy for the distress caused by its delays.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council has responded to Mr X’s stage two complaint and apologised for its poor complaint handling. It apologised for the delay in responding to his stage one complaint and it said it will review its complaints procedures to ensure complaints are responded to on time.
- We note the Council also acknowledged Mr X’s concerns about the management of the leisure centre. However, it also explained what steps it is taking to improve service delivery and customer experience at the leisure centre.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman