Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to refund her an appointment fee. There is insufficient injustice to warrant our involvement and we could not achieve the outcome she wants.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has refused to refund the £42 appointment fee she paid to give notice of marriage, despite acknowledging the officer made an administrative error during the appointment. She also says it lied in its complaint response about what documents she had provided. She wants the Council to apologise and refund her the £42 appointment fee.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code. The Code states we will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe that the complainant has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the service provider.

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My assessment

5. In its complaint response, the Council acknowledged the officer had made an administrative error and apologised to Ms X for this. It said despite this, it could not have processed the notice during the appointment as she had not provided a valid proof of address. For this reason, it would not agree to refund the appointment fee.
6. We will not investigate this complaint. Although I accept Ms X disputes the Council’s position, the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement. In addition, it is unlikely an investigation would be able to reach a finding on whether Ms X did provide a valid proof of address, so it is unlikely we would be able to achieve the outcome she wants.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient injustice to warrant an investigation and we could not achieve the outcome Ms X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman