Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care assessment, because there is not enough evidence of fault or a significant injustice to warrant investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr B says the Council changed his social worker without his permission. The new social worker was pending registration, and now does not want to support Mr B.
2. Mr B says the Council sent him letters dating back several years even though it told him to get rid of old letters. Mr B says the social worker told him over the telephone that he is not well, but has never apologised for this comment.
3. Mr B feels stressed and feels the Council has failed him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, 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))

5. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr B asked the Council to assess his adult social care and support needs. Mr B was surprised he did not have the same social worker he had previously, and that he was not asked about this and did not agree to a change. The Council explains it is not always possible to give the same worker. There is no fault in the Council giving a different worker to Mr B’s case.
9. The new social worker was waiting for the registration with Social Work England, so signed off her emails with ‘pending registration’. This caused Mr B some concern and he raised it with the Council. Though the social worker was waiting for this registration, that does not mean she was not suitable to complete Mr B’s assessment. There is no fault in the Council giving this social worker to Mr B, and the Council has explained to Mr B what ‘pending registration’ means.
10. The social worker visited Mr B and completed an assessment of his care and support needs following the Care Act and guidance. Mr B and his mother were involved in the assessment. There is no fault in the way the Council completed its assessment.
11. When the Council sent Mr B a copy of his assessment he contacted the Council to raise some concerns. The Council has had several conversations with Mr B over the last few months to discuss and resolve his concerns. One issue is outstanding about recording Mr B’s diagnosis on his assessment. The Council is still checking this with Mr B’s GP. The Council has acted correctly to discuss and resolve Mr B’s concerns and this work is continuing.
12. Mr B says his social worker is no longer involved. I can see the telephone conversations Mr B has had to discuss his concerns about the assessment have been with other workers. One is a senior social worker and one is a team manager. There is no fault in senior workers dealing with Mr B’s complaint. Though it might have helped if the Council had explained who he should now contact and why his social worker was not involved.
13. Mr B says in a telephone call with the social worker she told him he was not well. Mr B was upset by this comment and told the social worker in an e-mail that she should apologise. Although the Council has had contact with Mr B after this, I cannot see that Mr B raised it with the senior workers or in his formal complaint to the Council. Although Mr B is upset by the comment, that would not warrant an Ombudsman investigation. The Council should respond to this issue if it has not already done so.
14. Mr B wants the Council to stop sending him old documents. It is not clear what the Council has sent to Mr B and why, but we would not consider this would warrant investigation by the Ombudsman. If these are copy documents that Mr B already has, or he does not feel he needs to have them, then he can get rid of them. But the Council should also consider what documents are necessary to send to Mr B, because he can get confused by lots of paperwork.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is no evidence of fault or significant injustice which would warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman