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Complaining
about Local Authority Environmental Health Departments
Local Authority Environmental Health Departments are
involved in the enforcement of health and safety law
in many premises - including warehouses, private care
homes etc. To see a list, Click
Here.
This
page explains how you can:
- complain
to Local Authorities;
- how
you can make a complaint to the Local Government
Ombudsman if you are not satisfied with the
response from the Local Authority
- how
to take out a 'judicial review' of a decision made
by a Local Authority
Other organisations - other than Local Authorities-
are also involved in inspections, investigations and
prosecutions arising out of health and safety issues.
If you have complaints concerning any one of the organisations
below, please click on the name of the relevant organisation
and this will provide you with information on how
to make a complaint.
Complaining
to the Local Authority
Each Local Authority has a complaints mechanism, and
if you have a concern about the way in which the Local
Authority is conducting itself in the context of its
enforcement duties, then you should contact the Local
Authority first and try and resolve it through this
mechanism.
The sort of issue that you may wish to raise with
a council are:
• Failure to investigate a reported injury;
• Failure to undertake an adequate investigations:
• failure to undertake a proper inspection
• concerns about the way in which a Local Authority
decided against a prosecution.
If
you would like any help with this, please
contact us.
If
you are unable to resolve it through this process,
then you can make a complaint to the Local Government
Ombudsman. Please note that this is different from
the Parliamentary Ombudsman which has jurisdiction
over the Health and Safety Executive.
Local
Government Ombudsman
The Local Government Ombudsmen (LGO) investigate complaints
of injustice arising from maladministration by local
authorities.
The law does not define maladministration but according
to the LGO it means that "there has been a fault
in the way the council has or has not done something"
The
LGO, in its leaflet, gives the following examples.
It would be maladministration if a Council:
•
took too long to do something;
• did not follow its own rules or the law;
• broke its promises;
• treated your unfairly,
• gave you wrong information;
• did not make a decision in the correct
way.
The
LGO however can only investigate a complaints if you
can show that you have been caused 'injustice' as
a result of maladministration. This could for example
be:
• you
did not get a service or benefit you were entitled
to;
• you suffered financil loss; or
• were causes distress or upset.
You
should first write to the LGO. There are three Local
Government Ombudsmen in England and they each deal
with complaints from different parts of the country.
London Boroughs, North of the River Thames (including
Richmond but not Harrow) and Essex, Kent, Surrey,
Suffolk, and Sussex;and Berkshire, Buckinghamshire,
Hertfordshire, and Coventry City |
Tony Redmond,
Local Government Ombudsman
10th Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London
SW1P 4QP
020 7217 4620
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LB of Tower Hamlets, Birmingham City, Solihull
MBC, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire,
Warwickshire and the north of England (except
the cities of Manchester, Lancaster and York).
|
Anne Seex
Local Government Ombudsman
Beverley House,
17 Shipton Road,
York TO30 SFZ
Tel: 01904 380200 |
Rest of England |
Jerry White,
Local Government Ombudsman
The Oaks No 2
Westwood Way,
Westwood Business Park
Coventry CV4 8JB
Tel: 024 7682 0000 |
The
process of Investigation is as follows:
| • |
•an
initial decision is made as to whether the complaint
should be investigated - has the complainant given
the Council a reasonable opportunity to consider
your complaint? Does it raise issues of maladministration?
Are you alleging an injustice has been done? |
| • |
If
the LGO decised to investigate your complaint,
one of their investigators will get in touch with
you. |
| • |
They
will investigate your complaint as far as they
"consider necessary to reach a fair decision."
For example, they may need to be able to reach
a decision on the information you have provided
with your complaint. Or they may need to get information
from the council or to meet you and interview
other people. |
| • |
The
LGO will usually ask the council involved to comment
on your complaint |
| • |
The
LGO says that it will "make a decision on
your
complaint as quickly as they can", but they
say that this may take some months to collect
enough information to reach a fair
decision. |
| • |
When
they have enough information, they will write
to tell you what they have decided and why. |
| • |
During
the coarse of an investigation, the council maysometimes
offer to do
something to put things right. If the LGO thinks
the council’s offer is fair, they will tell
you so and stop the investigation. |
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Sometimes
the LGO writes a formal report which will be annonymised
and
made available to the public. |
| • |
If
the LGO finds that the council has been at fault
and that you have suffered an injustice as a result,
the LGO will recommend what the council should
do to put things right. However, the LGO cannot
make a Council do what the LGO recommends, though,
according to the LGO, councils almost always do
what the LGO asks. |
To
see the LCO website, Click
Here
Judicial Review
In February 2002, we shall be putting information
on the website on what circumstances allow you to
take a legal challenge against the HSE. Until then
contact us if you would
like further information.
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