London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (23 008 763)
Category : Transport and highways > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 08 Oct 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a letter he received from the Council. This is because the matter has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation by this office.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains a letter the Council sent to residents in his area contained a statement about the impact of toxic air which was untrue.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
- We do not start an investigation if we decide:
- any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
- 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 and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained about a statement the Council made in a letter it sent to residents in Mr X’s area about the impact of toxic air. Mr X said the statement, which referred to the number of deaths caused by toxic air, was untrue.
- This is not a complaint we will investigate. This is because the matter complained about has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to warrant an investigation. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and we must focus our limited public resources on those complaints where a person has suffered a significant personal injustice as a result of fault by the Council.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because the matter has not caused Mr X any significant personal injustice which is serious enough to merit an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman