Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s communication and complaint responses about free bus travel. This is because Mrs X has not suffered significant enough injustice.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains vouchers for free bus travel did not have an expiry date and promotional materials did not clearly explain key terms.
2. She says the Council’s complaint responses did not address her concerns about the lack of information.
3. She says as a result she could not make an informed decision about using the vouchers and lost the opportunity to benefit fully from the scheme. She has also spent time pursuing her complaint and has lost confidence in the Council’s complaint handling processes.
4. She wants the Council to acknowledge that it did not clearly communicate the key terms of the scheme and did not properly address her complaint. She would also like the Council to improve communication and complaint handling for future schemes.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. The Council said it funded part of the cost of redeemed tickets as a time limited behaviour change promotion but the bus company designed and sent the promotional materials providing codes to claim free tickets in the app.
9. I understand Mrs X says she was not able to make an informed decision about when to use the tickets. But even if the Council was responsible for making residents aware of the terms of the scheme, I do not consider the injustice suffered was significant enough to warrant an investigation.
10. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures where we are not investigating the underlying issues giving rise to the complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because she has not suffered significant enough injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman