An apology and £150 pay out has been stumped up by Wokingham Borough Council after it was accused of discrimination.  

‘Ms Y’ complained that a council officer was “insensitive and dismissive” about their health condition when dealing with a council tax account enquiry. 

The council officer was accused of dismissing her serious health conditions as “sob stories.” 

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The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), which assesses individual complaints against local public services, concluded that the case will not be investigated further as they “consider the council remedied the injustice during its complaint procedure".

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The council upheld the complaint having listened to the recording of the telephone call between ‘Ms Y’ and the officer. It says it is taking action to deal with the staff issue and to ensure that other members of the public do not have the same experience. 

Executive member for resident services, communications and emissions, councillor Gregor Murray, said: “We are truly sorry about the behaviour of one of our officers in this case. It was inappropriate and below the standards we expect from our officers. 

“To acknowledge the distress caused, we offered a goodwill payment as well as flowers and a note.” 

He added: “We put our residents at the heart of what we do. Sometimes we fall below the high standards that we set for ourselves.  

“When we do that, we admit fault, apologise, and learn from it to make sure we are always improving.”

Wokingham Borough Council issued an apology and paid £150 compensation to the complainant.