The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that a Council contractor removed his free caddy bin liners from his food waste bin or the Council’s complaints handling. The claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
Mr X complained a Council contractor removed the free caddy liners supplied with his bin. Mr X also complained about the Council’s complaint handling.
Mr X said the matter caused him frustration and time and trouble to resolve.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(1)(A) and 25(7), as amended).
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)) 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Removal of Mr X’s free caddy liners In its complaint response the Council upheld this complaint. It explained its contractor had undertaken disciplinary action against its staff, and it would remind other staff not to take items unless approved by the Council. The Council apologised to Mr X and said it would replace the caddy liners.
However, Mr X said the Council has not replaced the caddy liners.
The cost of replacement caddy liners is less than a few pounds. Therefore, the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman, and thus we will not investigate this complaint.
Complaints handling We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about the Council’s complaint handling. Because we are not investigating the substantive matter, any claimed injustice about the Council’s complaints handling is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the claimed injustice is not significant enough.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman