Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about the actions of a parish council. Parish councils are not bodies within our jurisdiction. For the rest, any injustice Mr X has experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement. Additionally, we cannot achieve the outcomes he wants so there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council refused to consider his complaint about a parish council.
2. Mr X says this caused distress.
3. Mr X wants the Council to investigate his complaint, place the parish council in special measures, report matters to the police and shield the community from Council Tax increases caused by mismanagement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as parish councils. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
6. The courts have said we can decide not to investigate a complaint about any action by an organisation concerning a matter which the law says we cannot investigate. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration [2006] EHWCC 2847 (Admin))
7. 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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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

8. I considered information provided by Mr X.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. The substantive matter in this complaint is Mr X’s dissatisfaction with the actions of a parish council. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about parish councils because they are not bodies within our jurisdiction.
11. In his email correspondence with the Council, Mr X has said he is acting for a community group.
12. 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 by an organisation. Also, we will not normally investigate a complaint where the complainant is using their enquiry as a way of raising a wider community campaign about something of general concern, but where they have not suffered injustice.
13. We will not investigate the part of Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to investigate his concerns about the parish council. Any injustice Mr X has experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
14. We cannot achieve the outcomes Mr X wants because the law does not allow us to investigate complaints about parish councils. Therefore, we cannot tell the Council to do what Mr X wants. There is therefore no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Final decision

15. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about parish councils. For the rest, any injustice Mr X has experienced is not significant enough to justify our involvement and we cannot achieve the outcomes he wants. Therefore, there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman