Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s complaint as any injustice is not sufficient to warrant our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has refused to process his complaint about its online procedure for submitting a claim for damage caused to his car which Mr X says happened due to road neglect.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X has encountered difficulties in submitting an insurance claim on the Council’s website. Mr X has complained to the Council about this, saying he cannot submit his claim. The Council refused to process the complaint as it said it had given Mr X details of how to submit the claim and there was no indication its online reporting system was not working.
6. I recognise Mr X’s frustration but from our perspective, that the Council has refused to process his complaint, does not represent a level of injustice significant enough to warrant our further involvement.
7. I appreciate Mr X has found the Council’s online reporting system difficult to use, but again, this does not represent a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement.
8. For these reasons, we will not investigate.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he is not caused a level of injustice that would justify our further involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman