The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delay in the Council responding to an insurance claim as this does not represent sufficient injustice to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council has not responded to his claim he made in April 2024 for it to pay for repairs to his car which was damaged by a pothole. Mr X would like the Council to pay for the repairs and an amount in recognition of his time and trouble.
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 (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We cannot determine whether the Council is legally liable for the damage to Mr X’s car or if it should pay him compensation. Only the courts can do this and it is open to Mr X to take such action using the relatively straight forward process open to him to obtain the payment he seeks.
I recognise Mr X’s frustration from the delay, but in isolation, this would not represent a level of injustice sufficient to justify our involvement. We have limited resources and must direct them to the most serios cases, in the public interest. In saying this, I have also taken account of information the Council has provided to me, that is, that it is looking into Mr X’s claim as a matter of urgency.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because this is essentially a matter for the courts and whilst it appears there has been delay, given the Council has committed to look into the claim urgently, it would not be a good use of our limited resources to investigate the administration of the claim in isolation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman