Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to repair a road sign. This is because the issue does not cause him significant injustice and we cannot investigate the alleged waste of public funds as the law bars us from considering complaints about matters which affect ‘all or most’ of the people in a council’s area.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has failed to repair a new ‘variable message sign’ and wasted public funds by visiting the wrong sign and claiming it had been repaired when it hadn’t.

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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 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)
3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
7. I appreciate Mr X is frustrated with the Council’s failure to repair the sign but the issue does not cause him significant personal injustice. We will not therefore investigate the matter further.
8. Mr X claims the Council has wasted public funds in dealing with the issue but this is not something we can consider further. This is because the impact on public funds is a matter which affects ‘all or most’ of the people in the Council’s area.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the issue does not cause Mr X significant injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman