A North Wales driver returned home from hospital to find his car had been wrongly classified as abandoned and destroyed, an Ombudsman investigation has found.

 

Petitionen/Ausschuss - 17.10.2018 (hib 773/2018)

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised a national park authority for the way it adopted a policy to charge residents for planning enforcement action.

North York Moors National Park Authority (NPA) decided to make a charge to recover some costs when taking enforcement action.

A couple complained to the Ombudsman that the NPA had charged them for enforcing a planning notice.

The Ombudsman’s investigation has found the NPA at fault for the way it made the decision to introduce the charge, and for not properly advising members of the legal and administrative basis on which it decided it was entitled to introduce it.

When the authority introduced the policy in 2014, and when it re-confirmed its position a year later, it took legal advice that found no clear legislation providing for local planning authorities to recover enforcement costs, and no case law on the issue.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said:

“In making policy decisions authorities should show a level of evidence reflecting the importance of the issue, and I would expect it to be meticulous for a decision as contentious as charging for planning enforcement.

“In this case, North York Moors National Park Authority’s decision was based on an inconclusive legal opinion and did not take into account all the relevant factors.

“I would expect a decision of this nature to receive thorough scrutiny. But the full implications of the authority’s proposal were not properly communicated to members, so it is questionable how informed their decision making could have been.

“We are also concerned the authority’s rationale for the decision shifted over time – rather than a robust, risk-based decision it appears it sought to justify a desired policy objective on limited and uncertain grounds.”

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s role is to remedy injustice and share learning from investigations to help improve public, and adult social care, services.

In this case the NPA has suspended the policy, cancelled the charges made under the policy and issued a refund to any others that have paid.

It should now also apologise to the couple for not properly considering the basis of the charge and for not explaining the basis for that charge.

The Ombudswoman dealt with the matter concerning the rejection of job candidates who were not willing to make an agreement with the employer that their salary would be sent to their bank account. In other words, they preferred to be paid by cash.

First of all, it must be stressed that sending a salary to a bank account is a matter of agreement between the employee and the employer. Excluding candidates who do not wish to make such an agreement could lead to them being indirectly discriminated against on grounds of property. They might end up (albeit temporarily) without financial means and unable to e.g. pay the rent or child maintenance. Moreover, paying salary in cash is still the primary method of payment pursuant to the Labour Code. It also constitutes a form of protection of the employee as the weaker party and ensures that people subject to a distraint procedure are able to obtain a living and pay their debts.

For these reasons, the Ombudswoman recommended that employers do not avoid employing persons who wish to receive their salaries in cash. At the same time, Labour inspectorates should remain vigilant, inform the employers of their illegal practices and order them to remedy the situation.

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