Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to consider a complaint made by Mr X about the way the Council treated another member of the public. This is because Mr X has not suffered a personal injustice to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X has complained the Council bullied and intimidated another member of the public. Mr X has also said when he complained to the Council about this, he was told he did not have enough interest to proceed with the complaint.
2. Mr X says that he is now afraid to visit the Council’s offices and would like the Council to explain why its officers used that amount of force.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the complaint from Mr X, his response to the Draft Decision and the notes for the telephone calls and emails provided by the Council.

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What I found

5. On 26 November 2019 Mr X called the Council to raise a complaint about a video that was taken showing two Council members of staff intimidating and bullying a member of the public. This member of the public was in the building trying to find out what the Council did in the building.
6. The Council responded to the complaint by thanking Mr X for bringing the matter to its attention.
7. In December 2019 Mr X contacted the Council to say that he didn’t understand why it had failed to investigate the complaint and thought the Council was neglecting its duty.
8. The Council responded to say it did not consider that Mr X had enough interest therefore it would take no further action.
9. Mr X has said that he is now afraid to visit the Council’s offices. However, we cannot link the Councils’ actions to the injustice that he says he has suffered.
10. I am satisfied Mr X has not suffered a significant personal injustice to warrant our involvement. I understand Mr X might be concerned about going back to the Council’s office. There is no evidence to suggest council officers would behave badly towards anyone acting reasonably in the Council’s offices. However, in this instance any injustice would have been to the member of the public who Mr X is saying was the victim of intimidation and bullying, not to Mr X himself.

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Final decision

11. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because Mr X has not suffered a significant personal injustice to warrant our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman