Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that that Council failed to make reasonable adjustments when it refused to allow him to go to the top of the waiting list for an allotment. It is unlikely we would find fault.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments for his disabilities when it said it would not assign him an allotment in front of others on the waiting list. Mr X said he has a disability and a mild to moderate mental illness and access to open spaces would aid in his recovery.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. There is large demand for allotments in the Council area and each allotment site has a waiting list. Mr X is currently on one of these. He requested the Council make reasonable adjustments and give him priority and allocate him a plot because he had disabilities which he said could be alleviated by access to green spaces such as an allotment. The Council responded with suggestions on how Mr X could access the outdoors but said it would not give him priority over others because that would be unfair. Mr X said that as a result, the Council was in breach of its Equality Act 2010 duties.
6. The Equality Act 2010 sets out the duty of public bodies to make reasonable adjustments so that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people. Mr X is being provided with the same service as other non-disabled people, albeit this means he must wait for a plot as others must. In the meantime, the Council has suggested other ways in which he could access green spaces. It is unlikely, therefore, that there would be enough evidence of fault to justify investigating this complaint.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman