New Forest District Council (25 015 563)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about how the Council considered her request for reasonable adjustments. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and make service improvements.
The complaint
- Mrs X complains the Council did not consider her request for reasonable adjustments.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended).
- If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended).
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- If we were to investigate this complaint, it is likely we would find the Council at fault. Mrs X wrote to the Council on two occasions to request reasonable adjustments. The Council did not consider her requests and did not address this aspect of her complaint.
- We asked the Council to consider resolving the complaint early by taking the following actions:
Within one month:
- apologise to Mrs X, taking into account our guidance on making apologies found here: guidance on remedies.
Within three months:
- ensure staff understand the Council’s duty to make reasonable adjustments and understand how to identify, record and act on a request for reasonable adjustments. The Council will provide training as needed.
Agreed Action
- To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint by taking the actions set out above.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mrs X and by making service improvements.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman