Worcestershire County Council (25 015 651)
Category : Adult care services > Assessment and care plan
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 31 May 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s provision of information to Mr X. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council did not inform him of a meeting that took place with his Aunt, Miss Y, in 2023 or a mental capacity assessment that took place in 2024. Mr X says he has been isolated from Miss Y a result of the meeting and assessment. He is also unhappy with the Council’s complaint handling.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council recently gave Mr X information which referenced the 2023 and 2024 meetings with Miss Y.
- In response to Mr X’s complaint, the Council explained records showed Miss Y did not want him to visit and did not want information about her shared with him.
- The law makes clear a council must take account of a service user’s wishes and feelings. The assumption is the individual is best placed to know what is best for themselves. Given Miss Y did not want information shared with Mr X we would expect the Council to respect that. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.
- It is not a proportionate use of our resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issues.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman