Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to reinstate a payment plan. The Council has already remedied any injustice Mr X experienced. Any outstanding injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council refused to reinstate a payment plan it had previously agreed in relation to a penalty charge notice (PCN).
2. He wants the fine to be withdrawn and compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mr X unsuccessfully challenged a PCN at court which had been issued by the Council. The Council offered Mr X a payment plan to cover the costs of the PCN (£70) and enforcement fees (£35). Mr X did not agree to the plan but made a counteroffer to pay £35 in full and final payment. The Council refused.
7. The Council later found a minor administrative error had caused some confusion and agreed to remove the enforcement fees.
8. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council’s errors administrative in nature and so the actions it took to remove the enforcement costs remedies any injustice Mr X experienced.
9. The Council declined to reoffer the payment plan so Mr X complained.
10. We will not normally investigate a complaint unless there is good reason to believe that the complainant has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the service provider.
11. This means that we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by the service provider.
12. Mr X originally offered to pay £35. From this it can be assumed he was able to afford that or was able to obtain the money from another source. This leaves a further £35 owing which Mr X had a month to pay. I do not consider this to constitute a significant enough personal injustice to warrant an investigation.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has already remedied any injustice Mr X experienced and any outstanding injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman