The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his concerns about a charity and about information the Council gave to him about the Household Support Fund. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council failed to properly respond to his concerns about a charity and that it gave him misleading advice about the Household Support Fund.
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. (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
The Council is not responsible for the charity, so it correctly advised Mr X to complaint directly to the charity directly. The Council sent an email to Mr X which had a link to a website to check if he was eligible for the Household Support Fund and details of an advocacy service he could use. I have seen no evidence of fault in how it communicated with Mr X about these matters so will not investigate his complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman