Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about information a council officer provided to his parents and in court. This is because we have no powers to consider matters which have been discussed in court. Even if this was not case, the complaint is late, and there is no evidence of personal injustice to Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that in 1986 a council officer provided information about the drains at a house his parents later bought. Mr X says that in 1998 the same officer provided contradictory evidence during a civil court case involving the same property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. 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)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I also gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on a draft statement before reaching a final decision on his complaint.

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What I found

6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. The exception at paragraph 2 applies to Mr X’s complaint. We have no powers to investigate complaints where the substantive issue complained about has been considered in court. The complaint is therefore outside our jurisdiction with no discretion to investigate.
8. Even if this were not the case, we would not investigate the complaint. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are clear and compelling reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here and so the exception at paragraph 3 also applies.
9. In deciding whether to investigate a complaint, we also consider the potential injustice to the person complaining. Based on the evidence available, the alleged fault did not cause Mr X any significant personal injustice. Given the time that has elapsed, it would also be very difficult for us to carry out a meaningful investigation. But as explained above, we have no powers to investigate the complaint. This is because the matter it flows from has been subject to legal proceedings.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because it is linked to court proceedings. Even if this was not the case, the complaint is late, and there is no evidence of significant personal injustice to Mr X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman