Summary: Mr D says the Council has failed to investigate his complaint about a Council Officer. The Ombudsman has completed the investigation because there is no evidence of fault, and the Council has agreed to consider the complaint.

The complaint

1. The complainant (whom I refer to as Mr D) says the Council failed to consider his complaint about a Council Officer shouting at him during a telephone call. He wants the Officer held to account and the Council to review its complaints procedures.

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What I have investigated

2. I have looked at whether the Council had failed to process a complaint. I explain below why I cannot look at the other points.

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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. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information provided by Mr D and made some enquiries to the Council.
5. I shared my draft decision with both parties and took account of their replies.

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What I found

What happened

6. In August 2022 Mr D complained to the Council that an Officer had shouted and been rude to him during a telephone call. A Complaints Team Investigator subsequently spoke to Mr D and emailed him on 16 August. She confirmed a Subject Access Request (SAR) had been submitted about the telephone call on his behalf and went through that process with him. She said that “as instructed” [by Mr D] the Council would not log a complaint until Mr D received a reply to the SAR.
7. Mr D later contacted the Council stating he had not asked for an SAR.

What should have happened

8. When the Council receives a SAR it will process that in line with procedures. That is a separate matter to corporate complaints handling.

Was there fault by the Council

9. I cannot see evidence of fault by the Council. The contemporaneous email record shows the Council acted on Mr D’s instructions in August and lodged a SAR rather than a corporate complaint.
10. The Council has agreed to consider a corporate complaint in this matter given Mr D clearly now wants to proceed down this route.

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Final decision

11. I have completed the investigation and not upheld the complaint.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

12. The Ombudsman cannot tell the Council to discipline Officers, that is a personnel matter and outside of the Ombudsman’s remit.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman