The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate the Council’s complaint handling. This is because we are not investigating any other issues and, in isolation, this did not cause Mr X significant injustice.
The complaint
Mr X is unhappy with how the Council dealt with his complaint about a housing register application. He says the Council said it would investigate his complaint but then refused, and he was given conflicting information. Mr X says this caused him stress and uncertainty, and he has spent time working out the correct process. Mr X would like service improvements to be made, so that this does not happen again.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because there is not usually enough injustice to justify us doing so. We collect information about particularly poor complaint handling practice and report this back to organisations. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34B(8))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X is unhappy with how the Council dealt with his complaint. We will not investigate as we will not usually investigate complaint handling if we are not investigating the rest of the complaint. This is because, in isolation, this did not cause Mr X a level of injustice that would warrant our further involvement.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are not investigating any other issues and, in isolation, this did not cause Mr X significant injustice.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman