Summary
Mr X complains that the Council will not award a grant to his business. We will not investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council will not award a grant to his business.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether an organisation’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I considered the complainant’s comments on my draft decision.
My assessment
Mr X says that the Council should pay a grant of £10,000 to him for developing his business. The Council says that the landlord had already received grants of £30,000 for three applications for the same property since the scheme commenced. The Council says they had to impose a maximum limit of £30,000 on each property as funds were limited.
Mr X says that this is unfair as he was told by the Council after signing the lease on the property that he could make a claim.
I appreciate Mr X’s disappointment but there is no evidence that the Council has acted improperly in the way they considered the request. In the absence of administrative fault, the Ombudsman cannot question the Council’s decision.
Final decision
I do not intend to investigate this complaint because there is no evidence of fault by the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman