Summary: Mr X complains the Council has discriminated against a local organisation of which he is a member by asking it to direct its enquiries to a named officer. We will not investigate the complaint because it is unlikely we will find evidence of fault and because there is insufficient injustice to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says the Council has discriminated against a local organisation of which he is a member by asking it to direct its enquiries to a named officer. He says his organisation is being treated differently to other similar organisations and that this gives the perception the Council may have an agenda against people the organisation represents.

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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 must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr X and the Council. I gave Mr X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what he said.

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What I found

4. On behalf of a local organisation he represents, Mr X sought clarification from the Council about an issue the organisation was involved with and received a satisfactory response.
5. On seeking further clarification on a point, the manager of the relevant service told Mr X that any further enquiries from the organisation should be sent to her.
6. Mr X asked why his organisation had to do this and queried whether other similar organisations had to follow the same procedures. He submitted a complaint stating such a procedure would lead to delays and to responses being provided by someone with insufficient knowledge. He complained that the request that contact be made through the manager was discriminatory towards the organisation.
7. The manager responded to explain that she headed the service where the team with which Mr X was involved was located and that she could draw on the knowledge and expertise of the team. She said she could see no reason for any delays in responding and that this did not discriminate against the organisation.
8. Dissatisfied with this response, Mr X pursued his complaint. However, the Council found nothing to indicate any form of discrimination and explained it was up to managers whether they wanted to assign a point of contact as had happened here and why this might be requested.

Assessment

9. We do not investigate every complaint we receive and, as a body funded from the public purse, we must use the funds allocated to us in an effective, efficient and economic manner. In this case I do not consider an investigation would be likely to find evidence of fault by the Council or that the level of injustice is sufficient to warrant an investigation.
10. Mr X also complains that the officer he complained about addressed his complaint initially but as the officer is the manager of the service this would be expected. The second complaint response came from a department head.
11. In responding to my draft decision, Mr X has provided further details of his exchanges with the Council. However, there is nothing within this information which changes my view that there is insufficient injustice to investigate and that even if we did, we would be likely to find fault.
12. Mr X’s complaint was adequately responded to by the Council. Even if it had not been, complaint handling in isolation is not generally a matter we will investigate when we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely we will find evidence of fault and because there is insufficient injustice to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman