The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way Mr X was spoken to by Council staff as there is insufficient remaining injustice caused to him to justify our further involvement and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks. The complaint is also likely to be outside our legal remit.
The complaint
Mr X complained he was verbally abused at a meeting by Council staff and that this left him feeling humiliated. Mr X is dissatisfied with the Council’s response to his complaint as he feels it has been swept under the carpet. Mr X wants the officers to provide personal apologies, and to be retrained or removed from their posts.
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 injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) When we find fault, we can recommend remedies for significant personal injustice, or to prevent future injustice, caused by that fault. We look at organisational fault, not individual professional competence. Decisions about individual’s fitness to practise or work are for the organisations concerned, and for professional regulators, not the Ombudsman. (Local Government Act 1974, s26(1) and s26A(1) as amended) We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In its complaint response to Mr X, the Council acknowledged the matter could have been handled differently and apologised to him. It also said it would use Mr X’s complaint as an opportunity to learn and improve its service. While I recognise Mr X remains upset, from our perspective, any remaining injustice caused to him is not sufficient to justify our further involvement. We have limited resources and must direct them to the more serious cases.
In addition, we look at organisational fault and are not empowered to impose sanctions on individual officers. We cannot therefore achieve the outcome Mr X would like to see.
This complaint is also likely to be outside our legal remit as the officers’ actions were carried out in respect of the Council’s social housing management function. The law does not allow us to investigate such matters.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient remaining injustice caused to him to justify our further involvement and we cannot achieve the outcome he seeks. The complaint is also likely to be outside our legal remit.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman