The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate how the Council considered Mr X’s complaint about the actions of a Town Council. This is because we have decided any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
Mr X complains the Council unlawfully changed the name of a Town Council on its Council Tax documents and also failed to properly consider his complaint on the matter.
Mr X says this caused him time and trouble, frustration and distress.
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))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The discretion we have in law, combined with our Assessment Code, 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 by the body complained about. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter. This is the case here.
If we are not investigating the subject matter in a complaint, we will not usually investigate separately the way an organisation handles complaints and correspondence about it. This is because it does not usually cause significant enough extra injustice than the underlying matter to warrant it. This again is the case here.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman