The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s complaint handling because any injustice is not significant enough.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the Council’s complaint handling, including a failure to make reasonable adjustments. Mr X says this caused him significant distress because of his disability.
The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body which carries out a public function. It aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his complaints as any injustice is not significant enough. Noting, Mr X remained able to access the Council’s complaints process.
Mr X is also unhappy about the Council’s handling of his substantive complaints about environmental services. This includes littering across the area, fly tipping and fly posting. I will not investigate because any fault has not caused Mr X significant injustice.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman