Summary: We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint about the Council’s failure to provide care and support to her friend Ms C. This is because Ms C is now deceased, and we could not provide her with a remedy for any fault an investigation might uncover.

The complaint

1. Ms B complains her friend Ms C was let down by the Council when she requested help and support in 2020. Ms B says if the Council had provided the support Ms C needed she would not have taken her own life. Ms B want the Council to learn from its mistakes to avoid other people having to go through a similar situation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
5. The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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My assessment

6. The Council says it completed a telephone assessment with Ms C on 6 April 2020 and advised her she had eligible needs. It says in order to provide her with services Ms C would need accommodation. It said Ms C was offered interim accommodation by its homeless unit on 10 March 2020 which Ms C refused. The Council says it communicated with Shelter who encouraged Ms C to accept the accommodation offered, but Ms C refused. The Council says the Homeless Persons Unit attempted to contact Ms C and spoke to her on 3 April 2020. It says Ms C said she was staying with a friend but declined to give an address. The Council says Ms C’s MP contacted it on her behalf on 2 April and it responded on 5 and 9 April.
7. The Council says it offered to support Ms C and advised her to contact the Homeless Persons Unit. It says it understood Ms C had access to the Metal Health Services and advised her to contact it if she required further advice or information. The Council says it sent Ms C the outcome of her Care Needs Assessment by email, Ms C’s preferred method of communication, on 16 April but says there is no record of Ms C making any further contact with the service after that date.
8. Ms C was offered interim accommodation in March and April 2020 and would have been able to access services if she had accepted or provided an address where care could have been given. We could not say Ms C would still be here if the Council had provided services at the time or provide a remedy for Ms C even if we investigated and found evidence of fault.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because Ms C is now deceased, and we could not provide her with a remedy for any fault an investigation might uncover.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman