Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a safeguarding matter relating to her father. This is because the Council has provided a suitable remedy and it is unlikely investigation would achieve anything more.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Ms X, complains the Council failed to stop her brother from making top-up payments for her father’s residential care from his account rather. She also complains about the Council’s safeguarding investigation into this and another incident and that the Council has not provided information she believes she is entitled to.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• the fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• the injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

3. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I reviewed Ms X’s complaint and the Council’s responses. I shared my draft decision with Ms X and invited her comments.

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What I found

5. Ms X’s father, Mr Y, moved into a care home in May 2019. Because the care home’s charges were more than the Council would usually pay and Mr Y did not pay the full cost of his care, Ms X’s brother (Mr Z) agreed to pay a ‘third party top-up’. However, instead of paying the top-up from his own money he paid it from Mr Z’s account.
6. Ms X found out what had happened in 2020 and complained to the care home and the Council. Because the Council commissioned Mr X’s care it retains responsibility for what happened.
7. Ms X believes the Council was too slow to act on her concerns about the arrangement and failed to properly investigate it. She says the Council did not contact her for her input to its safeguarding investigation into the financial issue and a fall Mr Z had before he moved to the care home and will not provide copies of the evidence it obtained as part of its investigation.

My assessment

8. The Council accepts Mr Y should not have paid the third party top-up from Mr Z’s account and it has arranged for all contributions to be refunded. The care home has also agreed not to charge the top-up in future.
9. The Council investigated Ms X’s concerns about Mr Z’s fall and Mr Y’s conduct as safeguarding matters but found no reason to take further action. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate its handling of these matters as they are not ongoing; Mr Z does not now live at home and the top-ups have been refunded. Further investigation is therefore unlikely to achieve any worthwhile outcome for Ms X or Mr Z.
10. Ms X believes Mr Y has taken other amounts from Mr Z’s account without authority which have not been spent on Mr Z but any safeguarding investigation would not provide a remedy for this. If Ms X believes Mr Y has stolen money from Mr Z she may wish to obtain legal advice and make a claim against him through the courts.
11. Ms X has requested copies of the evidence provided by Mr Y as part of the safeguarding investigation but the Council has declined to provide this. The Information Commissioner is better placed to decide if Ms X is entitled to this information.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is unlikely investigation would achieve anything more for Ms X or Mr Z. If Ms X believes the Council is withholding information she is entitled to she should report the matter to the Information Commissioner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman