The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: The investigation into this complaint is discontinued as the action taken by the Council to resume sessions at a leisure centre has remedied the injustice caused.
The complaint
Ms X complains that a Council owned leisure centre has moved sessions for people with additional needs to a different day without consultation. Ms X says her child cannot attend the other day and so is missing the sessions.
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 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 continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken or proposes to take. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(7), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I read the papers presented by Ms X and discussed the complaint with her.
I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint.
Ms X and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.
What I found
Ms X complained the Council had moved an exercise session for people with additional needs to a different day.
After Ms X put in the complaint to the Ombudsman, the Council restarted the session on the day Ms X could attend and said she could attend 3 sessions free.
The Council also said ‘taking some learning from this case we acknowledge that our handling of this programme change has led to our customer being dissatisfied, and we could have been better in the way we engaged with our customer about the impact of the change of session time. This is something we will take into account as and when we need to review and or change any future session times with this customer group’.
Final decision
I intend to end my investigation and do not uphold Ms X’s complaint. This is because the Council has taken action to resolve the matters complained about and there is no worthwhile outcome from investigating the complaint.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman