Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice and the Council’s complaint response. This is because the Council has already offered reasonable and proportionate remedies for the injustice caused. Further investigation by us would achieve nothing more.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the way the Council and Enforcement Agents acting for it have dealt with recovery for a Penalty Charge Notice issued in 2024. Mr X says the Council and Enforcement Agents have ignored or misplaced his correspondence with them about this matter. He is also concerned Enforcement Agents attended his previous address while undertaking recovery action. Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council’s handling of his complaint and the remedy it has offered for the injustice he has experienced.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
3. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The Council has apologised to Mr X for delays in complaint handling and for not fully addressing his concerns. The Council’s stage two response also accepts its oversight in not logging Mr X’s previous contact as a stage one complaint and for its Enforcement Agent attending his previous address. The Council has confirmed all outstanding charges for the Penalty Charge Notice have been cancelled and no debt remains outstanding. The Council has also offered Mr X a small remedy payment of £50 in recognition of the difficulties he experienced when making his complaint.
8. The Council’s stage two complaint response is detailed and thorough. It has upheld large parts of Mr X’s original complaint. The Council has confirmed all recovery and enforcement action has been cancelled and has sought to remedy the additional inconvenience Mr X has experienced in pursuing this matter. The action the Council has taken is in line with what we would typically recommend based on our Guidance on Remedies. Small symbolic payments such as the one offered in this case are not intended to be punitive or serve as compensation because awards of this type would normally be for the court to decide.
9. We will not normally investigate where are unlikely to add to a previous investigation. It is not a good use of public money to do so. In this case, the question for us is whether our intervention would add anything to the investigation the Council has carried out and the remedial action it has offered. We will not investigate this complaint further as there is nothing to suggest that it would do so.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Council has already taken appropriate action to remedy the injustice caused. There are no wider public interest issues to justify our investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman