Summary: We will use our discretion not to investigate this complaint about the alleged actions of an organisation linked to the Council because we could not achieve anything worthwhile for Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to properly consider his complaint about the conduct of its officers and the decision-making of a partnership organisation. He says the Council did not investigate some issues because it said the organisations involved were independent of it. He wants the Council to fully investigate his concerns, provide a suitable remedy and make service improvements.

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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 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))
3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X led a project for an organisation part-funded by the Council. The project involved the Council and other organisations. He complained to the Council about issues at the organisation. He says a Council officer said she would support communication between him and the organisation. He also says the Council did not properly consider his concerns about reasonable adjustments, communication, safeguarding and partnership governance.
7. The Council said that it would not consider the complaint because it did not have oversight for the organisations which are independent and not accountable to the Council. It also said there was no requirement for the Council officer to provide ongoing support and the officer made it clear to Mr X that she did not have the capacity to do this.
8. We will use our discretion not to investigate this complaint. The matter is a dispute about Mr X’s working relationship with an organisation linked to the Council. It is not our role to deal with the professional relationship between the organisation concerned and Mr X.
9. In any event, we do not have the power to achieve the outcomes Mr X wants. We cannot ask the Council to suggest improvements for a linked organisation. An investigation by us would not achieve more for Mr X.
10. Mr X is also unhappy with the Council’s communication and complaint handling. If we are not investigating the subject matter in a complaint, we will not usually investigate separately the way an organisation handles complaints and correspondence about it. This is because it does not usually cause significant enough extra injustice than the underlying matter to warrant it. That is the case here.

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Final decision

11. We will use our discretion not to investigate this complaint because we cannot achieve anything worthwhile for Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman