The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that a Council officer discriminated against him based on his race. There is insufficient evidence of fault and we could not add to the Council’s investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains a Council officer discriminated against him and belittled him based on his race, in correspondence about his homelessness application. He says this caused distress and he believes he is being treated less favourably because of his race. He wants the Council to apologise and provide him with secure accommodation.
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: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organization.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
In 2023, the Council was supporting Mr X to relieve his homelessness. Following a subject access request, Mr X received copies of Council correspondence related to his case. Mr X was unhappy with comments made by an officer in an internal email which he alleges suggested he was not cooperating and questioned his intelligence. Mr X complained the Council was belittling him and discriminating against him with these comments.
In its response to Mr X, the Council explained its officers were expressing their views as Mr X had refused to sign the forms to proceed with an offer of a room. It also explained the context of second comment and confirmed it was not referring to Mr X’s intelligence. It said there was no evidence of any racial discrimination.
We will not investigate this complaint. The Council has investigated Mr X’s complaint and explained its remarks. We could not add to the Council’s investigation. There is insufficient evidence to suggest the Council is discriminating against Mr X or that he has been treated differently because of his race to justify an investigation.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot add to the Council’s investigation and there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman