London Borough of Brent

The Ombudsman's final decision

Summary: We will not investigate how the Council handled Mr X’s complaints about his local Healthwatch organisation. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

The complaint

Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with complaints he made about Healthwatch.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.

We cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a Council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) as amended).

It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

How I considered this complaint

I considered information provided by the complainant.

I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

Local Healthwatch supports public involvement in health and social care decision-making. While councils oversee local Healthwatch operations, their day-to-day activities and decision-making are independent and not considered administrative functions of the council.

The Ombudsman cannot investigate Healthwatch’s day-to-day activities. Therefore, we will not investigate Mr X’s concern the Council has not properly investigated his complaint. That is because it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. Furthermore, any injustice flowing from the Council’s complaints handling is unlikely to have caused significant enough injustice to warrant an investigation.

Final decision

We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman