Buckinghamshire Council (20 007 290)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 18 Dec 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains the Council harassed him to provide an address for the service of legal papers. We will not investigate this complaint as we are unlikely to add to the Council’s investigation. Nor is further investigation likely to lead to a different outcome.
The complaint
- The complainant who I will call Mr X, says the Council refuses to accept he is homeless. He says its barrister has called him a liar and demanded and address from Mr X so the Council can serve him with legal documents.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council
- it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A (6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X in his complaint form and information provided by the Council.
- Mr X commented on the draft version of this decision.
What I found
- Mr X was involved in legal action with the Council.
- He says he is homeless, but the Council’s barrister demanded he provide an address to serve legal documents.
- The Council says it had previously sent 2 sets of legal documents to the last address they held for Mr X. Both these were returned ‘unknown at this address’. It says the barrister was unaware that Mr X had been contacted previously and asked to provide an address for service. It confirmed the barristers’ actions were not intended to harass Mr X. Service was made by email.
Final decision
- I will not investigate this complaint. The Council is required to send legal papers to the correct address. It is unfortunate Mr X was asked more than once to provide an address for service. However, I consider it unlikely we could add to the Council’s investigation or that further investigation will lead to a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman