London Borough of Lewisham (25 020 490)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Apr 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council prevented him from contacting his councillors. There is not enough injustice to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council classified him as vexatious and assigned him a single point of contact. He says that as a result, he cannot contact councillors directly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council classified Mr X as a vexatious and persistent complainer several years ago. Because this took place more than 12 months ago and I can see no good reason why Mr X did not complain earlier, I will not consider that decision now.
- Mr X has a single point of contact (SPOC) at the Council who he can email. The SPOC will pass Mr X’s emails to the relevant people where appropriate. The Council confirmed Mr X had contacted the SPOC 38 times in the last 12 months. The Council also said it received enquiries from Mr X via his MP. Mr X had also changed his email address to contact a councillor directly recently, which breached the terms of his contact arrangements.
- We will not investigate this complaint. Mr X is able to contact the Council, albeit in a way he does not like. Therefore, there is not enough evidence of significant injustice to warrant an investigation.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of significant injustice to warrant an investigation
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman