Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s complaints procedure. Any injustice Mrs Y has experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement, and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complained the Council did not adhere to an earlier commitment to amend its complaints procedure and then refused to consider her complaint about the matter.
2. Mrs Y said this caused distress and led to a loss of trust in the Council.
3. Mrs Y wants the Council to amend its complaints procedure according to its previous commitment to her, and to apologise.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs Y.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs Y said the Council committed to amending its complaints procedure as an outcome from a previous complaint.
8. When the Council updated its complaints procedure it did not include the agreed amendment. Mrs Y contacted the Council to discuss this.
9. The Council said that its two reviews of its complaints procedure in 2025 had focused on the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the code). The Council also told Mrs Y the code meant the local amendment was no longer needed.
10. We have issued the code as “advice and guidance” for all local councils in England under section 23(12A) of the Local Government Act 1974. This means that councils should consider the code when developing complaint handling policies and procedures and when responding to complaints.
11. We intend to start considering how council’s respond to the code, from April 2026.
12. Mrs Y was dissatisfied by the Council’s position and so complained. The Council refused Mrs Y’s complaint as it said it had already provided a proportionate response to her.
13. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint. I am not satisfied that the Council's actions have caused Mrs Y a significant enough personal injustice to warrant our involvement.
14. Additionally, there is no outcome achievable by our investigation. Councils are expected to have regard, unless they have good reasons not to, for our published code from April 2026. It is therefore disproportionate to investigate this matter by itself at this point.

Final Decision

15. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because any injustice experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement, and there is no outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman