Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way a Council officer spoke to Mr X during a telephone call. This is because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council and there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way a Council officer spoke to him during a telephone call where he felt he had been belittled due to his disability. He also says the Council delayed in sending its Stage 2 letter to him and it did not meet his agreed reasonable adjustments to call him and explain the contents of the letter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council, including its response to the complaint.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X complained to the Council about the way an officer spoke to him during a telephone call he had made.
6. There was no recording of the call but a manager looked into Mr X’s allegations and spoke to the officer concerned. Having done so the manager decided it was not possible to prove either party’s account of the events of the call.
7. We do not investigate every complaint we receive. The call Mr X complains about had not been recorded and we cannot conclude now what was said by either party.
8. There was delay by the Council in responding at Stage 2 of its complaints procedure which it failed to acknowledge. While this is noted, we will not investigate complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue.
9. Mr X says the Council did not meet his agreed reasonable adjustments by telephoning him about the letter it sent him. This is a new matter not yet addressed by the Council. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. If Mr X wishes the Council to address this separate matter, it is open to him to make a further complaint to the Council about it and to contact us again if he is dissatisfied at the end of its consideration of the matter.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because an investigation is unlikely to add to that already carried out by the Council and there is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman