The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint that she was bullied and racially discriminated against by the Council as it is unlikely we could add to the investigation already carried out or achieve the outcome Mrs X seeks.
The complaint
Mrs X complains she was bullied and racially discriminated against her when the Council became involved regarding repair issues at her rental property. Mrs X considers the Council misused its authority to harass her and favoured her tenant. Mrs X complains the Council did not properly investigate the complaints she made to it about this. Mrs X says she has been caused emotional and physical distress. Mrs X wants the matter to be investigated again, for the Council to knowledge its failures, to apologise and to pay compensation to her.
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, or if we decide any fault has not caused injustice 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 the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council became involved with Mrs X after concerns were raised about electrical safety at her rental property. The Council has a duty to enforce various laws regarding repair conditions and safety at privately rented properties, including that of electrical safety. Mrs X is unhappy about how the Council treated her during this involvement, as detailed in paragraph one. Mrs X complained to the Council about this.
The Council investigated Mrs X’s complaints, taking account of officer accounts, those of Mrs X and of third party witnesses. It provided a detailed first stage response which addressed the different aspects of the complaint. The Council did find some issues in respect of officer communication with Mrs X, for which it apologised and said that it was putting in place measures to ensure better communication in future. However, the Council did not find evidence to support Mrs X’s view that she had been bullied or racially discriminated against or that its officer had abused her position.
Mrs X escalated the matter and the Council responded under Stage 2 of its procedure. Its response addressed the points Mrs X raised in her escalation.
We will not investigate as I do not consider we could add to the investigation already carried out or change the outcome of the complaint. While Mrs X has indicated her general dissatisfaction with the investigation and outcome, she has not provided specific evidence to support these views or call into question the Council’s handling of the matter. In addition, this is not a complaint that would warrant a financial remedy. The Council acknowledged some fault, but the injustice caused to Mrs X from this, is not sufficient to warrant a financial payment.
For these reasons, we will not investigate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we cannot add to the investigation already carried out or achieve the outcome Mrs X seeks.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman