Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s working practices. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because the issues he has raised are historic, he has not suffered any personal injustice and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council does not follow normal working practices and is incompetent. He says this has caused others great distress and him a lot of time complaining. He says he wants all Council managers to be sacked.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X and the Council. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Over the years, Mr X has submitted complaints to the Council about a variety of issues.
6. In response to his most recent complaints made in 2020, the Council has explained it will not be responding to them because they had been addressed in 2011.
7. Mr X then complained to the Ombudsman, listing a variety of issues he was unhappy with which indicated to him that the Council was incompetent and did not follow normal working practices.

Assessment

8. The Council says the issues Mr X complained to it about in 2020 are those it addressed in 2011. The restriction highlighted at paragraph 3 applies to these past events as they are too old to be investigated now and I see no grounds which warrant exercising discretion to do so.
9. The concerns Mr X has listed in his complaint to us do not indicate he has suffered any personal injustice as a result of fault by the Council. Moreover, an investigation by the Ombudsman would not achieve the outcome he seeks.

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Final decision

10. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the issues he has raised are historic, he has not suffered any personal injustice and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman