Cheshire East Council (19 002 343)
Category : Adult care services > Disabled facilities grants
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 17 Jul 2019
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about adaptations to her home for her disabled son. The Council has agreed to reassess the case and thereafter to consider her complaint should she remain unhappy.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, says the Council has failed to provide adaptations to her home for her disabled child’s needs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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 would be reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint and the Council’s response which it provided. I considered Ms X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.
What I found
- Ms X says her six year old child’s disability means they have toileting issues. She says her home needs adapting to cater for this. The Council carried out two assessments but said they did not fulfil the criteria.
- Ms X has recently obtained a new diagnosis for her child. This is a change in circumstances. The Council has confirmed it will reassess her case. If Ms X is unhappy with that reassessment the Council confirms it will consider her complaint at the next stage of its complaints procedure.
- It is reasonable to expect Ms X to allow this new assessment and then complete the complaints process if she remains unhappy.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. This is because it is reasonable to expect Ms X to seek a review of the Council’s assessment.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman