Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council undertook the Future Grenfell Support consultation. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained there were failings in how the Council undertook the Future Grenfell Support consultation. She said the Council did not listen to the views of residents, held meetings at short notice and failed to tell residents about meetings. She said the Council excluded members of the community from the consultation as leaflets were mainly in English.
2. She said the Council failed to tell residents about their right to claim compensation. She said the agreed package of support was not adequate.
3. Ms X wants the Council to publicly apologise and develop a proper compensation scheme.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
6. 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:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, 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

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. In the Council’s complaint response, it accepted there were shortcomings in its consultation process. It recognised the need to improve engagement with the wider community, to introduce a minimum standard for the notice of meetings and ensure consistency around translation and accessibility. It accepted these actions could have improved the outcome of the consultation. It confirmed it had taken on board learning to improve future consultation processes.
10. As the Council has fully upheld this complaint and taken action to address any failings, we will not investigate further. That is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. Additionally, Ms X wants the Council to publicly apologise for failings in the consultation process. We make recommendations to remedy direct personal injustice to the complainant; therefore this is not a recommendation we would make. The outcome Ms X seeks maybe better achieved by raising the matter through her MP or councillor.
11. We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about the lack of financial support for residents of Grenfell. That is because the settlement was decided by the Court. The law says we cannot consider matters that have formed part of court proceedings.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman