Summary: We have discontinued our investigation into Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to respond to her complaint. This is because the Council issued an appropriate complaint response after Ms X brought her complaint to our attention.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to respond to a complaint brought by her, on behalf of Mr Y, in August 2025. The contents of this complaint included concerns about what actions the Council took to safeguard Mr Y from financial exploitation and the failure of the Council to undertake a capacity assessment of Mr Y about his understanding to decide to undertake unpaid work.
2. Ms X requested a response to her complaint in resolution of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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: there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
6. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Safeguarding vulnerable adults

7. Councils play the lead role in co-ordinating work to safeguard adults. Anyone who has concerns for the welfare of a vulnerable adult should raise an alert. The Council’s policy sets out the responsibilities of the people involved and the timescales for action.
8. The purpose of the safeguarding process is to:
• Find out the facts about what happened; and
• protect the vulnerable adult from the risk of further harm.
9. The Council’s safeguarding policy and procedures set out how the Council will respond to allegations and concerns about abuse.
10. When someone raises a concern with the Council, it should undertake an initial enquiry to decide how to respond. If the Council does not resolve the concern through initial enquiries it will need to investigate to decide on the most proportionate response.

Mental Capacity Act 2005

11. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice sets out the circumstances under which a Council must apply to the Court. This includes when there is serious disagreement about where a person should live. There is a distinction between a serious disagreement which requires a Court application, and occasions where an individual is dissatisfied with a decision and brings a challenge.
12. If the Council feels a vulnerable adult may not be able to decide about their care, it should carry out a Mental Capacity Assessment. This will assess the adult’s capacity to make a particular decision at the particular time it needs to be made.
13. Where an adult lacks capacity, the law says any decision or action taken on their behalf must be in their best interests.

What happened

14. In August 2025, Ms X raised a formal complaint with the Council. Ms X raised safeguarding concerns with the Council about a volunteering placement Mr Y was attending. Ms X outlined concerns about what mental capacity assessments the Council had completed of Mr Y, what steps the Council had taken to prevent financial exploitation, what steps the Council had taken to minimise risk and how the Council was keeping the placement under review. Ms X also asked for answer to linked questions related to these points.
15. The Council acknowledged Ms X’s complaint later in August 2025.
16. Ms X approached the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the Ombudsman, with her complaint in November 2025 because the Council declined to issue a response. Ms X requested the Council answered her complaint correspondence of August 2025 in resolution to the complaint.
17. The Council agreed to issue a complaint response in December 2025 and did so in January 2026. Within the Council’s complaint response, it addressed each of Ms X’s concerns. The Council also outlined it was completing a best interests decision for Mr Y about his volunteering work and proposed a more robust working together process going forward.

Analysis

18. Since we received Ms X’s complaint the Council has issued its complaint response addressing each of Ms X’s points in her complaint, set out the actions it would take for Mr Y and outlined how it would adapt its service moving forwards.
19. We may decide to discontinue an investigation if we are satisfied with the actions an organisation has taken. In this case, I find the Council’s response to Ms X was appropriate and proportionate and its plan of action suitably addresses the concerns raised.
20. Further investigation would not achieve a worthwhile outcome. For this reason, I have discontinued my investigation into this complaint.

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Decision

21. I have ended my investigation as there was no worthwhile outcome of investigating this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman