on the lessons that can be learnt from our complaints about end of life care given in care homes and in the home.
Category : Other Categories > Other Decision : Closed after initial enquiries Decision date : 12 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the evidence a Council used when imposing contact restrictions. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.
The complaint
Mr X complains about the examples of unreasonable behaviour the Council included in a warning letter and ban letter.
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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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 wrote to Mr X and told him it considered his letters unreasonable. It gave several examples of unreasonable behaviour and asked him to consider his future contact. Mr X contacted the council again and continued to make claims the Council had said were unreasonable, so the Council sent him a letter explaining it was restricting his contact with it for six months after which it would review the arrangements.
I will not investigate this complaint. The Council has acted in line with its policy. It was entitled to restrict Mr X’s contact to a single email address and to confirm it will not respond on matters which it considers closed. It had warned him about the behaviour it considered unreasonable. It explained the restriction would last six months and that he could still raise any new issues via an email address.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman