The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to waive his library fees, or that it has stopped him from using its library services. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained about the Council’s decision not to waive his outstanding library fees. He said the Council lacked empathy and had not considered his difficult circumstances. He also disagrees with the Council’s decision to stop him from using its libraries.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended) We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council wrote to Mr X about his library charges at the start of 2023. It said that it had waived charges since 2019 on his account but could no-longer continue to do this. It said if Mr X returned or paid for several missing items, it would waive the outstanding charges for his late returns. It said it had considered his circumstances, but it was responsibility of customers to return books on time.
Although Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s decision, we will not investigate this complaint. The Council charges for late returns and missing items. It has considered Mr X’s circumstances, and explained why it will not waive its fees. There is not enough evidence of fault in how it acted to justify out involvement.
We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council stopping him from using its library services. The Council sent Mr X a warning letter after he was abusive to library staff. It said if that behaviour continued it would exclude him from using library services. Following a further incident, the Council excluded Mr X. It has reviewed that exclusion on two occasions and extended it because of further incidents.
The Council has provided clear reasons for the exclusion, details of the incidents and applied its Library Code of Conduct. It has kept the exclusion under review and set out his appeal rights. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions to issue the exclusion to justify our involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman