Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about anti-social behaviour. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council’s decision to reject her request to activate the Community Trigger, which is an anti-social behaviour review carried out under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. She says the Council did not give her case sufficient priority or help her to deal with incidents which had happened in the past.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X asked the Council to activate the Community Trigger multi-agency response to her complaints about anti-social behaviour in areas around her home. The Council told her that her complaints did not meet the threshold for a Trigger review because they did not meet the criteria.
6. The criteria used to activate the procedure are given as incidents having occurred within one month of being reported to the agencies involved and requesting the trigger within six months. The incidents have to meet the threshold for harm or threat of harm, persistence and the response of other agencies. The Council says her reports did not meet the time criteria, were sufficiently supported by Police evidence or took place in other London Boroughs outside the Council’s area.
7. Ms X asked for a review of the decision and the Council undertook this, but the decision was unchanged.
8. We may not question the merits of decisions which have been properly made. We do not comment on judgements councils make, unless they are affected by fault in the decision-making process.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint about anti-social behaviour. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman