The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the conduct of a Council employee. This is because we cannot add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve the outcome the complainant is seeking.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the conduct of a Council employee. Mr X says he and his children suffered harassment and racism from the employee and that the employee was not wearing identification at the time of the incident. Mr X wants the employee and those that investigated the matter to be sacked.
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: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(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
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. This is because I could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council. The Council considered relevant information when investigating Mr X’s complaint and spoke to the employee involved. The recollections of the employee differ significantly to Mr X’s. I could not reconcile the conflicting views as I was not privy to the events and conversations.
The Council did accept that the employee wasn’t wearing identification at the time of the incident and that they should have been. However, the Council has raised this with the employee via its HR process. This is a proportionate and appropriate response and therefore further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.
The outcome Mr X wants is for the Council Officer’s involved in his case to be dismissed. The Ombudsman cannot involve herself in personnel issues, including disciplinary matters, therefore this is not an outcome we can achieve.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to the investigation carried out by the Council or achieve the outcome he is seeking.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman