The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the conduct of an Enforcement Officer and the Council's handling of the resulting complaint. This is because the Council has already investigated the complaint, accepted fault and taken action in response to its findings. We cannot add to that investigation and there is unlikely to be a worthwhile outcome from further investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains an Enforcement Officer wrongly accused him of littering, followed him and behaved inappropriately. He says the Council did not properly address all his concerns about the officer's actions or their impact on him. Mr X says this caused distress and affected his confidence.
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: we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(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 investigated the incident and concluded Mr X had not committed a littering offence. It upheld his complaint and accepted there was no reason for the officer to accuse him of an offence he had not committed. It also accepted the officer's conduct was inappropriate and apologised.
The Council considered Mr X's concerns through both stages of its complaint’s procedure. It reviewed CCTV and body-worn camera footage and provided further information about the action taken in response to the officer's conduct.
The Council says the officer received disciplinary action, additional training, management guidance and supervision. It also reminded enforcement staff about the need to have sufficient evidence before taking enforcement action.
Mr X remains dissatisfied with the Council's response and believes it should have gone further. However, the Council has already investigated the incident, accepted fault, apologised and taken action in response to its findings.
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because further investigation is unlikely to achieve a different remedy or a worthwhile outcome for Mr X.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X's complaint because we cannot add to the investigation already carried out by the Council and there is unlikely to be a worthwhile outcome from further investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman