Salford City Council (25 021 486)
Category : Adult care services > Assessment and care plan
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 25 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council carried out a Care Act Assessment. This is because we cannot add to the Council’s investigation.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about how a social worker carried out a Care Act Assessment, which he says left him without support. He wanted a fresh assessment carried out by a different female social worker.
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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X moved from a different area and asked the Council to carry out a Care Act Assessment so he could access support. He said the Council ignored his request for a female social worker to carry out the assessment. He said the worker who did the assessment was unprofessional. Mr X said this left him without support.
- The Council said it had examined records and spoken to staff but did not find the social worker had acted unprofessionally. A female social worker carried out a fresh assessment. Mr X has confirmed that he is happy working with her.
- I will not investigate this complaint. I have considered the steps the organisation took to consider the issue, and the information it took account of when responding to Mr X.
- The Council identified an issue with getting information about Mr X’s previous support and it has taken learning on this.
- Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s response to his dissatisfaction with the professionalism of the worker who did the first assessment, but this response had considered all the available information. An investigation by the Ombudsman would not have access to any more information.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot add to the Council’s investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman