Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council withdrawing adult social care support overnight. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Council made that decision to justify an Ombudsman investigation. The Ombudsman cannot settle the dispute, but the Court of Protection may decide the matter.

The complaint

1. Ms B says the Council has wrongly withdrawn funding for supporting Mr C’s adult social care needs overnight. This leaves family to provide the withdrawn support.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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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.
6. I considered the Care Act 2014 and associated statutory guidance.

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My assessment

7. The Council must complete an assessment of needs of any adult in its area who may need care and support. When the Council identifies an adult in need the Council must complete a care plan detailing how it will meet those needs. The Council must review this at least once a year.
8. At a recent review the Council decided Mr C does not have needs overnight for care and support, so removed funding for this.
9. The Ombudsman cannot decide whether Mr C has overnight need for care and support, we can only look at how the Council decided the matter.
10. The Council completed an assessment of Mr C’s needs, considering information from Mr C’s formal and informal care support, and from relevant medical professionals. The Council met with Mr C and relevant family and completed its assessment over several visits.
11. When Ms B challenged the Council’s decision, the Council reconsidered the matter through an appeal process.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an Ombudsman investigation. The Council completed a thorough care needs assessment and reconsidered its decision at appeal considering Ms B’s challenge to the decision. We could not achieve the outcome of reinstating overnight care support, because it is not our decision to make if Mr C needs that support. Ms B could apply to the Court of Protection to decide the dispute about Mr C’s needs and how the Council should meet them.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman