Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council’s actions regarding her husband’s, Mr B’s, care. This is because it is unlikely we would add to the Council’s response or make a different finding.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complained about lack of communication regarding her husband’s, Mr B’s initial placement, failure to move him when she asked, and the Council’s decision to consider safeguarding when Mrs B took him home in December 2020.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council explained Mr B’s care needs could not be met at home and he needed a residential care home. It acknowledged there was a delay in moving him to a home of Mrs B’s choice, but it was waiting the outcome of the financial assessment. In the meantime, the home of choice closed down. The Council upheld Mrs B’s complaint regarding a gap in communication when an allocated worker left. It acknowledged she was not kept updated of any delays.
7. Further investigation by the Ombudsman could not add to this or make a different finding.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding even if we investigated.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman