Environment Agency did not explain why it sent letter to director's home address

What happened

Mr B was the director of a small company that was in dispute with the Environment Agency about how it was dealing with one of the company's products. The Environment Agency sent him a letter to his home address that told him he was in breach of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Mr B complained and asked to see the Environment Agency's policy and procedures on writing to directors at their homes. He asked for its reasons for sending him the letter at home. There followed a long correspondence between Mr B and the Agency but Mr B remained unsatisfied by the Environment Agency's explanations.

What we found

We partly upheld this complaint. At the time that the Environment Agency sent Mr B a letter to his home address, there was no policy or procedure in place to advise on when and how to take this action. This was a failing. The Environment Agency also did not act properly when handling Mr B's complaint. Having discussed the case with the relevant Environment Agency officers, we concluded that even if there had been no failings and guidance had been in place at the time, it was more likely than not, on the balance of probabilities, that the Environment Agency would still have sent the letter to Mr B, so we did not find any injustice. However, he had been put to the annoyance and inconvenience of trying to get an adequate response to his complaint, and that was an injustice.

Putting it right

The Environment Agency apologised to Mr B for the annoyance and inconvenience. As a result of Mr B's complaint, the Agency produced guidance and agreed to amend it in light of our investigation to make sure that it explained to a recipient why it had sent a letter to their home address.