The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to refund gym membership fees due to the temporary closure of a gym. This is because any injustice to the complainant is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains that the Council has refused to refund him part of the yearly upfront fee he pays for his families membership for leisure services, despite it closing its gym for three weeks for maintenance.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X paid a yearly membership of £400 for his family to access several leisure services including a gym. The Council closed the gym for a three-week period in December to carry out maintenance. Mr X wants the Council to provide him with a refund of his membership for this period.
I will not investigate this complaint. The annual fee Mr X paid equates to under £8 per week and the membership does not just cover the use of the gym, but also allows his family access to other services such as the swimming pool. For these reasons I do not consider that any injustice caused to Mr X by the closure of the gym is significant enough to warrant further investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not been caused a significant enough injustice to warrant further investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman