Maladministration | What is maladministration?

Definitions of maladministration and injustice

The majority of citizens who become victims of Council corruption often ponder the questions of what is maladministration, and to a lesser extent, what is injustice? The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), will only investigate "maladministration causing injustice". The LGO have the power to investigate the way in which a local authority arrived at a particular decision but cannot review the decision itself just because the complainant does not agree with it. The complainant must prove that he or she has suffered an "injustice" as a consequence of a local authority's poor or defective decision-making exercise.

There is no statutory definition of maladministration or injustice. However, the law provides that the LGO must look for maladministration, which includes:

broken promises;
delay;
failure to follow procedures or the law;
failure to investigate;
failure to provide information;
failure to reply;
incorrect action or failure to take any action;
inadequate consultation;
inadequate liaison;
inadequate record-keeping; and
misleading or inaccurate statements

Again, there is no fixed definition of injustice but it can consist of:

financial loss or unnecessary expense;
hurt feelings, distress, worry, or inconvenience;
loss of right or amenity; and
time and trouble in pursuing a justified complaint

Any injustice must evolve from the fault by the local authority, for example:

delay in carrying out repairs leading to a period of unsatisfactory housing conditions
delay in processing a housing benefit claim or appeal leading to possession action for rent arrears
failure to investigate or respond to complaints of noise nuisance causing excessive disturbance
failure to investigate or respond to complaints of planning control breaches
recovering an overpayment of council tax benefit while an appeal is outstanding, leading to recovery action by bailiffs.