The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Authority’s decision to delegate how it communicates. Parts of Mr X’s complaint are late and there is no significant injustice.
The complaint
Mr X previously expressed concern about how the Authority handled communications with him in April and May 2023. More recently Mr X said the authority had called him unreasonable and he was unhappy that other staff members can intercept emails sent to the Mayor’s office.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something an authority has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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 any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr X and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because parts of it are now late and there are no good reasons why it could not have been made sooner. Of the parts that are in time, there is no significant injustice to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman