Public Service and Local Government




OMBUDSMAN WATCHERS RESOURCE CENTRE

Case Study

This is an example of a Local Government Ombudsman Investigation.

Summary of my complaint

  1. After the initial letter of complaint was submitted the Ombudsman responded with a letter of clarification. 
  2. The complainant's response to the LGO's  letter of clarification.
  3. The response from the Council was received by the LGO and he confirmed this in writing to the complainant on 14 July 2010.
  4. Nothing further was heard so the complainant put in two Freedom of Information requests to obtain the response from the Council - One FOI request to the LGO and one FOI request to the Council.
  5. The LGO responded by email on the 13th Aug 2010 at 13.04 stating that he had not replied because some of the information was marked 'confidential.'
  6. The complainant replied to the LGO's  email stating that all information should be released.
  7. Further email sent to LGO from complainant 13 August 2010 18:46:18 GMT enclosing an article in the Local Newspaper with a comment underneath about the Chief Executive Portsmouth City Council being a Freemason.
  8. The LGO responded by email on the 20th August 2010 at 18.06 stating that he had arranged for the Council’s comments and enclosures that he was able to send to the complainant to be forwarded to them.
  9. The complainant received a letter dated the 19th August from the LGO together with the Council's comments.
  10. The complainant sent the LGO an email on the 23rd August 2010 and received an acknowledgement on the 24th August 2010.
  11. 13th September 2010 The LGO responded to the complainants FOI request. Their response includes 2 letters. A covering letter and a copy of the letter they sent to the Council about his complaints. Two versions of this letter exist, one dated the 11th September 2010 and one dated 11th June 2010.
  12. 24th September 2010 the complainant received a response to the FOI request they submitted to the Council. Because of a number of anomalies the complainant responded on the 28th September 2010 asking for all the information that had been given to, and received from, the Local Government Ombudsman.
  13. On the 26th October 2010 a further freedom of information request was submitted to Portsmouth City Council by the complainant in order to identify the date on a document.
  14. 29th October 2010 a further freedom of information request was submited to Portsmouth City Council by the complainant in order to obtain a missing document.
  15. 9th November 2010 the LGO sent the complainant an email asking for a meeting to discuss their complaint.
  16. 14th November 2010 the complainant responded to the LGO's email.
  17. 18th November 2010 the complainant sent an email to the LGO containing additional evidence. The LGO acknowledged receipt on the same day.
  18. 26th November 2010 the complainant sent an email to Council (copied to the LGO).
  19. 30th November 2010 the complainant sent another email to the Council and also copied this to the LGO.
  20. 8th December 2010 the complainant sent an email to the LGO about the lack of progress and added two more complaints.
  21. 9th December 2010 the council sent an email suggesting that planning permission was not required.
  22. 9th December the complainant sought clarification from the Council regarding their email of the 9th December 2010.
  23. 13th December 2010 the council responded to the complainants request for clarification.
  24. 15th December 2010 the complainant refuted the Council's claim that planning permission was not necessary.
  25. 24th December 2010 the complainant received a letter from Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman.
  26. 28th January 2011 the Information Commissioner accepted a Freedom of Information complaint against Portsmouth City Council.
  27. 21st February 2011 the LGO sent the complainant a letter together with their Provisional Statement of Reasons including an annexe of Key Facts
  28. 1st March 2011 the complainant sent a response to the LGO regarding their letter to him of the 24th December 2010.
  29. 25th March 2011 the LGO sent a letter to the complainant, even though they were aware he was on holiday.
  30. 19th April 2011 the complainant sent the LGO a response to their letter of the 25th March 2011.
  31. 6th May 2011 the LGO sent the complainant a response together with two enclosures. (Enclosures available by link from the LGO response.)
  32. 17th May 2011 the complainant submits an additional complaint to the LGO.
  33. 28th June  2011 Final Report  sent to the complainant. 
  34. 7th July 2011 the complainant submits a reminder about his additional complaint of the 17th May 2011 and the LGO's failure to address the issues raised.
  35. 2nd August 2011 having received some further documentation from the council the complaint sent a letter of complaint to the LGO. This complaint concerns the LGO's report being based on untruths (Information obtained from the council that had not been validated by the investigator).
  36. 2nd August 2011 the LGO sent the complainant a response to his letter of the 7th July 2011.
  37. 4th August 2011 the complainant sent an email in response to the Deputy Ombudsman's letter of the 2nd August 2011.
  38. 7th September 2011 the LGO sent a final letter to the complainant.
  39. 13th September 2011 the complainant submits a further complaint about the way in which the LGO has ignored his earlier complaints and evidence.
  40. 14th October 2011 the LGO sent the complainant a final letter.
  The complainant has now written a summary which is available via the link at the top of this page.