Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt a complaint about a town council. The complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr B, has complained about how the Council dealt with a complaint he made about a town council. He says he does not wish to alter the Council’s decision but wants acknowledgment the Council did not pursue it properly.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’.
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if, for example, we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault;
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained; or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr B which included the Council’s response to his concerns. . I also considered our Assessment Code.

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Final decision

We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint. The Council has apologised to him for not keeping in touch. It unlikely we would find fault by the Council has caused Mr B injustice that warrants our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman