Summary: We will not investigate this complaint the Council completed an unannounced social care visit. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council completed an unannounced social care visit. She said in that visit, the Council threatened to stop her support and place her in residential care. She said the visit caused her distress. Miss X wants the Council to recognise the harm caused and allocate her a new Social Worker and interpreter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• 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

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. In its complaint response, the Council said it completed an unannounced visit because it had made several, unsuccessful attempts to contact Ms X. It said it needed to meet to speak to her about her unpaid care contributions. It said the purpose of the meeting was to offer her support whilst addressing her financial responsibilities.
6. The Council said there was no evidence in its records the officers threatened to stop her support or place her in residential care. It considered witness testimonies Ms X provided to support her allegation the officers were threatening. It said there were inconsistencies in these. It said it could not uphold her complaint about the officers’ conduct. However, it did apologise for any distress caused by the visits.
7. Although Ms X is unhappy with the Council’s response we will not investigate. Firstly, we would not be critical of the Council completing an unannounced home visit given its previous attempts to arrange a visit. In addition, the law allows the Council to charge people for the care they receive. We expect councils to clearly communicate these charges to those who receive care. The Council’s complaint response set out why the meeting was necessary. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
8. The Council has said there is not enough evidence to support Ms X’s allegations its officers behaved in a threatening matter. As we were not present, we cannot say what happened. Therefore, there is nothing worthwhile to be achieved by investigating this further. The Council has agreed to change Ms X’s social worker and appoint a new interpreter. Further investigation by the Ombudsman would not lead to a different outcome.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman