The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of council officers. This is because the complainant has not been caused significant enough injustice because of the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complained about the attitude and language used by council officers towards him.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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: any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X told us he feels let down by the Council. He said he believes a Council officer set up a telephone call with him. He said the language used by another Council officer was unprofessional and that officer’s attitude was aggressive and arrogant. Mr X wants the Council to provide a better public service.
The Council considered Mr X’s complaint. It explained a new officer in the team made a courtesy call to Mr X to discuss his report. It said in the absence of any evidence to support Mr X’s view that the call was set up, there would be no realistic opportunity for it to reach a different outcome if it investigated further. It apologised for the vernacular language its officer used and said it was not meant to cause any offence. The Council said it found no evidence to suggest the officer’s behaviour was aggressive or arrogant.
We must consider whether Mr X has suffered significant enough injustice to justify investigating his complaint. In this case, whilst I understand Mr X feels let down by the Council’s service, the injustice he has suffered is not significant enough for us to investigate his complaint. The Council has considered Mr X’s complaint and apologised. This is what we would expect it to do. We would not obtain a significantly different outcome for Mr X if we investigated his complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he has not been caused significant enough injustice because of the Council’s actions to justify our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman