Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to charge her for an administrative task. There is no significant injustice and we cannot achieve what she is looking for.

The complaint

1. Ms X was unhappy the Council would only carry out a name change on its records, for her property, after she paid an administrative fee for it to do this work. Ms X disagrees with this, and she said this decision has caused her inconvenience to follow this up.

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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 and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

4. Ms X believed the Council were wrong to ask for an administrative fee, to alter her house name on its records. The Council said there was no requirement for a house name to be recorded under government guidance, and because this was a discretionary request, it said she would need to pay a fee.
5. We will not investigate this complaint. Ms X said the Council gave conflicting information about why this fee was necessary, but the injustice Ms X has complained about is not significant that would justify an investigation. We only investigate matters where a complainant has suffered serious loss or harm, or distress.
6. In any case, Ms X wants the Council to waive the fee, and we could not direct the Council to do this.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is no significant injustice and we cannot achieve her outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman