Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about matters in connection with her relative’s needs assessment. This is because we could not add to the Council’s previous investigation which has offered a suitable remedy in the form of a needs assessment.

The complaint

1. In short, Mrs X complains about the way the Council dealt with her relative’s care and support needs. She also complains about the complaint handling and inaccuracies in the complaint’s response.
2. Mrs X would like a new assessment of her relative’s needs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered all the information provided by Mrs X.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

6. Mrs X is dissatisfied with the outcome of a ‘review’ into her relative’s needs for care and support.
7. Mrs X disputes that a meeting referred to by the Council was a ‘review’ meeting due to the social worker’s conduct. She is also unhappy with the complaint handling and says her complaint has not been thoroughly investigated.
8. We will not investigate. This is because the Council’s complaints investigation has already offered a new assessment of her relative’s needs to be conducted by a senior social worker. This is the remedy we would request if we investigated and found fault causing injustice in the way the assessment/review process. As Mrs X has already achieved a suitable remedy, there is nothing to be gained by an Ombudsman investigation.
9. When we are not investigating the main complaint, we also will not investigate a complaint about the complaint handling. This is because this would not be a good use of public funds to investigate the complaint process in isolation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman