Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s relative’s care. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome requested as it was decided in court. And, because the remaining matters are premature and therefore too early for us to intervene.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains on behalf of her relative, Mr Y, about various matters concerning his care and support needs. She says Mr Y’s needs have not been met over several years and she would like him to move closer to her.
2. Mrs X is seeking for Mr Y to be moved to a different location by the Council. She also wants a financial remedy for her expenses.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. 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 cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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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. Mrs X has made a wide-ranging complaint covering many years of what she describes as care failings regarding Mr Y over his accommodation and finances. She says the Council has ignored Mr Y’s wishes to move closer to Mrs X.
9. We checked with the Council whether Mrs X had brought her complaint to the Council before coming to us. The Council says Mrs X is raising historic matters outside of its usual 12-month time frame for investigating.
10. We will not investigate this complaint for two main reasons.
11. Firstly, we cannot achieve the outcome sought concerning Mr Y’s care location as this matter was decided in court. The Ombudsman cannot question or overturn decisions made by a court. Therefore, we have no remit to consider this aspect of his complaint.
12. Secondly, Mrs X’s remaining complaint matters relate to Mr Y’s care arrangements. It is not clear that some of these matters have resulted in a completed Council decision or that the complaints process has reached a stage where Ombudsman involvement would be appropriate. These issues are therefore premature for our consideration currently. As outlined in paragraph 5, we usually only consider complaints which have first been considered by the Council as it is best placed to resolve the complaint in the first instance. If Mrs X remains dissatisfied after completing the Council’s complaints procedure we can consider further, subject to the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint as we cannot achieve the outcome sought and the remaining matters are premature.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman