Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of the Council during a meeting for continuing healthcare funding. The Council’s actions do not cause a significant enough injustice to justify our involvement. The funding decision is an NHS decision which we have no powers to consider.

The complaint

1. Mr B says the Council spoke with his relative, Mr C, without an advocate present. Mr B says the Council pressured Mr C to reveal financial documents. Mr B says the Council is continuing to harass he and Mr C, saying Mr B is abusing Mr C. Mr B says the outcome of a meeting was wrong and has denied Mr C funding for his care. Mr B wants care funded until a new assessment is completed by different staff. Mr B wants a review of the officers’ conduct.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by:

• their personal representative (if they have one), or
• someone we consider to be suitable.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2) and 34C(2), as amended)

3. We have accepted Mr B as suitable to act for Mr C.
4. 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)
5. We decided Mr B has good reasons why he could not complain sooner, due to illness.
6. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

7. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Integrated Care Board. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34(1), as amended)
8. 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 tell 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

9. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. Mr C arranges and funds his own care at home. Mr C applied for continuing healthcare funding, which is NHS funding arranged by the Integrated Care Board (ICB).
12. We have no powers to consider the actions of the ICB or the decision it made, which is the main claimed injustice. Mr B is appealing the ICB decision, which is the correct action. If he is unhappy with that process he can follow the relevant NHS complaint procedure.
13. We do not investigate all complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
14. The Council had some involvement with the ICB’s process, which Mr B is unhappy with. However, the Council officer’s actions do not cause enough injustice to justify an Ombudsman investigation. Mr B said he wanted the officer fired from their post, which is not an outcome the Ombudsman could achieve.
15. The Council is also the local safeguarding authority. This means it is responsible to ensure vulnerable adults in its area live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. Mr B said the Council is harassing him about abuse. It is unlikely we would criticise the Council for making any enquiries into concerns it might have or that it has received. Even though it might feel stressful to Mr B, the Council’s duty is to Mr C. However, we have no evidence Mr B has put this complaint to the Council, and so he should do that first before we would consider it. I can see no good reason why the Council should not have the opportunity to consider it first.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because there is not enough injustice caused by the Council’s actions to justify our resource. The main claimed injustice is caused by the ICB process and decision which we have no powers to consider.
17. Mr B has a new complaint about Council safeguarding, which he needs to raise with the Council first.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman