The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X’s contact with the Council concerning his local councillors. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to as Mr X, says his attempts to contact his local councillors have been unsuccessful as they do not come back to him when he leaves messages. He says the Council has not helped him about this matter and that staff have been told to terminate his calls.
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 may decide not to start an investigation if 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 Mr X and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mr X made a number of calls to the Chief Executive’s Office and the Leader’s Office. The Council’s Solicitor told him his calls to these offices were preventing staff from carrying out their work and explained that he should call the relevant service direct or the Council’s contact centre.
Mr X made a complaint to the Ombudsman that local councillors were not returning his calls when he sought assistance from them.
In responding to this complaint, the Council told him that if he wanted to make a complaint about a particular councillor, he would need to name the councillor and explain why he thought they had broken the Members Code of Conduct.
There is a specific route Mr X must follow if he wants to make a complaint about a named councillor. The Council has told him how to do this and that he can make his complaint by telephoning its Customer Services Team.
Mr X’s initial calls to the Chief Executive’s and Leader’s Offices were made to the wrong offices and the Council told him how to make contact with the right service or team. It has also told him how to make a complaint against a councillor. As I do not consider there is evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman, we will not pursue the complaint further.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault by the Council sufficient to warrant an investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman