Middlesbrough Borough Council (25 018 015)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to refund a notice appointment fee. The Council has now agreed to refund the fee and has updated its terms and conditions.
The complaint
- Mr X complains that the Council refused to refund the fee for a notice appointment after it was unable to locate the district of the wedding venue he and his partner had chosen and ended the appointment early.
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. The Council told Mr X it would not refund the appointment fee as he was told to bring venue information to the appointment. However, I have not seen any evidence Mr X was told he would need to know the registration district of the wedding venue.
- We asked the Council to consider resolving the complaint early by reconsidering its decision not to consider refunding the fee within one month of this decision.
Agreed Action
- The Council agreed to refund the appointment fee to Mr X within one month. It has also updated the terms and conditions for Registrars appointments.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by reconsidering its decision not to refund the fee.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman