Summary: Ms X complained the Council took too long to deal with her application for a disabled parking bay and that communication with her was poor. We upheld the complaint. The Council has now installed the bay, which is a partial remedy for the injustice. It will apologise and make a symbolic payment to reflect Ms X’s avoidable inconvenience and frustration.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council took too long to deal with her application for a disabled parking bay. And its communication with her was poor.
2. She said this caused avoidable inconvenience and frustration.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant guidance

7. Our Principles of Good Administrative Practice set out our expectations of councils when they are dealing with the public. We expect councils to be citizen focussed. This includes ensuring people can access services easily and dealing with them helpfully, promptly and sensitively

What happened

8. Ms X has mobility problems. She applied for a disabled parking bay in November 2023. Ms X emailed her local councillor in August 2024 saying she had applied for a parking bay and hadn’t heard anything. She asked for an update on her application.
9. Ms X also emailed the Council suggesting its practice placed her at a detriment as she had not provided a phone number or email address. She asked why the Council hadn’t written asking her to provide these details.
10. Ms X complained to the Council about the matters she has raised with us. The Council’s final response to the complaint said:
• The team responsible was short of staff which was the reason for the delay responding to her requests for updates.
• Applications can take six to 12 months to process, this is on the website. Her first request for an update in August 2024, was within six to 12 months of her application.
• She made further contacts in August and September and then contacted her councillor. During this time, parking services were in the middle of changes.
• It upheld her complaint because there should have been a response to her requests for an update. The manager had been asked to improve communication processes to allow applicants to get updates.
• Her application was incomplete and therefore could not be processed. Usually parking services would have contacted her by email or phone to get the missing information, however she did not provide an email address or contact number. Due to this, parking services told her to submit a fresh application. Her application was missing a copy of her mobility lease agreement and she had put her name in the wrong section of the application form which meant the information did not feed into the Council’s database.
• The team can send out a letter when an applicant doesn’t provide a phone number or email address, but this didn’t happen at the time due to staff shortages
• The Council would change processes to ensure contact was made by letter if the same thing happened again
• The parking team would expedite her application
11. The Council installed Ms X’s bay in December 2024.

Findings

12. Communication with Ms X was not citizen focussed which was fault. The Council should have let Ms X know that her application was incomplete by writing to her. The parking team was short staffed so this did not happen. We would expect councils to have staffing capacity needed to run its services. Ms X suffered avoidable inconvenience and frustration as a result.
13. The Council has taken action to improve its service by increasing capacity and changing its procedures so applicants will be contacted by letter for missing information if they have not provided a phone number or email address. This will minimise the risk of recurrence.

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Agreed Action

14. The Council will, within one month of my final decision:
• Apologise. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Make Ms X a payment of £100 to reflect her avoidable frustration and inconvenience caused by poor customer service.
15. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

16. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman