The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to Mr X’s correspondence. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome and any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complained the Council failed to respond to his complaint or correspondence. He said this has caused him frustration and disappointment. He would like the council to review its performance management for responding to correspondence and complaints.
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 further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(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 the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X contacted the Council via email with a number of concerns and suggestions.
In its response to Mr X, the Council apologised that its auto response email had not provided him with an acknowledgement. It said it would investigate the matter with its IT provider.
The Council provided Mr X with a number of responses to his emails. The Council accepted that its responses had not been provided in a timely manner, and apologised to Mr X for the delay. It also said it could not locate one email Mr X referred to within his complaint, but it offered to look into the matter if Mr X provided a copy.
We will not investigate this complaint because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. The Council apologised for not responding to Mr X’s emails in a timely manner and offered to investigate an outstanding matter.
Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
While I appreciate Mr X's concerns about the Council’s delay in responding to his emails, I do not consider the issue complained about caused him a significant personal injustice to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman