The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint about an article claiming that the Council misused funds because this affects all or most residents in the local area. We will not investigate Mr X’s claim that the article breached the Audit and Accountability Act 2014 because he has not demonstrated that this has caused him a significant injustice.
The complaint
Mr X complains that an article in a Council magazine only featured MPs from one party. Mr X says this was a misuse of public funds and breached the Audit and Accountability Act 2014.
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)) 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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint that the article was a misuse of funds. This is because the law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that affect all or most of the residents in a council’s area.
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the article breached the Audit and Accountability Act 2014. I am not satisfied that this has caused Mr X a significant enough injustice to warrant investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot investigate matters that affect all or most residents in the Council’s area and I do not consider that the issues raised have caused Mr X a significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman