Summary: We cannot investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to act on her reports of fraud and corruption since 2011. This is because the complaint is late and the issue affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area. It is therefore barred from investigation under Section 26(7) of the Local Government Act 1974.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mrs X, complains the Council has failed to act on her reports of fraud and corruption in the planning process since 2011. She is also unhappy two local councillors said they would represent her in the matter but have failed to do so. She says the fraud has cost council taxpayers around £6million.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended)
4. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

6. Mrs X says she has reported her concerns about fraud and corruption to the Council since around 2011 but it, and her local councillors, have failed to act on them. She has also provided documents which show she raised concerns about the matter as early as 2007 and that she complained to the Information Commissioner about the Council’s handling of her information requests in 2009.
7. Because Mrs X has been aware of the issue for more than 13 years, her complaints about them are late. I have seen no good reasons for the delay in bringing the matter to us and it is in any event unlikely we could effectively investigate the issues given the amount of time that has passed. I will not therefore exercise my discretion to investigate these issues now.
8. Further, the injustice Mrs X claims lies in the alleged loss of around £6million of council taxpayers' money to fraud and corruption in the planning process. This is an issue which affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area through the alleged misuse of public funds and it is therefore barred from investigation as set out at Paragraph 3.

Back to top

Final decision

9. We cannot investigate this complaint. This is because it is late and the issue complained about affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman