The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about alleged wrongful pre-election political publicity by the Council as it impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is not within our remit.
The complaint
Mr X complained that information the Council sent out with its annual council tax bills contained information about a political candidate which Mr X considerered could have improperly influenced electors at the ballot box, in elections that were to be held soon after. Mr X considered the Council’s actions breached section 2 of the Local Government Act 1986. Mr X wanted the candidate in question to be removed from the elections.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate something that affects all or most of the people in a council’s area. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(7), as amended) 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 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The injustice that Mr X claims arises from his complaint, that voters in the Council’s area could have been influenced by the information the Council sent out, impacts all or most of the people in the Council’s area and so is not within our remit, and we cannot investigate.
Additionally and notwithstanding the above, we could not have achieved the outcome Mr X sought ie to have the candidate removed from the election.
Final decision
We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because the claimed injustice impacts all or most of the people within the Council’s area and so is not within our remit.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman