Summary: Mr X says the Council changed his address without consulting him in 2015. He says he became aware of the matter in 2017 but is only recently affected by the change. We will not investigate this complaint as it is too late. We have seen no reason why Mr X could not have complained much sooner. And we cannot achieve the outcome he is seeking.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I shall call Mr X, says the Council changed his address in 2015 without consulting him or his landlord.
2. He says he became aware of the change in 2018 but did not complain to the Council until 2020, when the change of the address adversely affected him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. 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
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants

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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Mr X, including the Council response to his complaint.
7. Mr X commented on the draft version of this decision.

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What I found

8. Mr X complains the Council changed his address in 2015 without consulting him or his landlord.
9. He confirms he became aware of the change in 2018 but did not take any action.
10. In 2020 he decided to complain to the Council. He says this was because he could not register to vote at and cannot order Council-mandated bin bags. He says to change his address to the new one assigned by the Council will cost him financially, will be of no benefit to him and will be a waste of his time. He also says it is likely he will experience problems with post if he changes the address.

Assessment

11. The complaint is outside our jurisdiction because Mr X complains late. He complains after the legally ‘permitted period’ of 12 months (see paragraph 2 above).
12. Mr X says he did not continue his complaint in 2018 because the Council told him he could not take the matter further. His lack of knowledge of the Ombudsman, which has existed since 1974, is not grounds to investigate.
13. I have considered, even if Mr X’s complaint had been in time, whether it would have warranted our investigation. I do not consider we would have grounds to investigate the complaint, even if it had not been late because:
• the Council was not obliged to consult Mr X on the change of address in 2015
• Mr X’s address was changed over 5 years ago and having read the information provided I believe it unlikely that further investigation will lead to a different outcome
• we cannot require the Council to reverse its decision and revert to Mr X’s former address

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Final decision

14. I will not investigate this complaint because it is too late and do not consider there are any good reasons to exercise discretion. Nor can we achieve the outcome Mr X is seeking.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman