Westmorland and Furness Council (26 009 659)
Category : Other Categories > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delays in the Council communicating with him. The claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about delays in the Council responding to communications from his business.
- Mr X says this caused frustration.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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
- Mr X complained about delays in the Council responding to his communications.
- Mr X said there were ongoing delays in responding to a particular issue since the end of 2024.
- In its complaint response, the Council acknowledged and apologised for the delays.
- Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures.
- There is no evidence to suggest Mr X has suffered an injustice which meets the threshold for our involvement. For this reason, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because his claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman