Surrey County Council (24 017 721)
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council’s officer made false allegations about the complainant’s wife at a meeting. Investigation would not add anything significant to the complaint response the Council has already made and is not therefore warranted.
The complaint
- The complainant, Mr X, complains that the Council’s officer made false allegations about his wife at a meeting with another party present.
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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains that an officer of the Council’s Inclusion Service made inappropriate comments and false accusations at a meeting attended by other parties. He says the officer’s attendance at the meeting was not appropriate, as she was previously removed from his children’s case.
- Mr X says the comments caused significant distress to his family. To remedy his complaint, he wants a written apology from the Inclusion Service and for the officer to be subject to disciplinary action.
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because investigation would not add anything to the response the Council has already made. The Council has apologised to Mr and Mrs X for the experience they had, and it is not a good use of our resources to pursue the matter simply to obtain a further apology.
- Neither can we ask the Council to take disciplinary action. We investigate complaints against councils as corporate bodies, not against individuals. Whether disciplinary action is appropriate is a personnel matter and is, by law, not something the Ombudsman can consider.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because investigation would achieve nothing significant.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman