Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about damage to Mr X’s home and the actions of a social worker.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains:
1. Carers arranged by the Council caused damage in his home for which he wants £850 reimbursement.
2. A social worker threatened to remove his wife from their home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
4. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome or we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

Complaint about damage

7. Mr X can take court action for compensation for damage caused by negligence. Therefore the restriction in paragraph 3 above applies. Mr X told me he did not want the trouble involved in taking court action. That in itself does not persuade me it would be unreasonable to expect Mr X to go to court. The process for making a money claim is relatively easy to follow.
8. Mr X has already redecorated or replaced some of the damaged items. Regarding other points of alleged damage, the Council either did not find clear evidence of the damage or did not find evidence it was caused by the carers. Given the lack of evidence, it is unlikely investigation by the Ombudsman would be able to reach a clear enough view. Unlike the court, the Ombudsman does not take evidence on oath. Additionally, liability for damage is not necessarily a straightforward matter legally. These points mean I consider it reasonable to expect Mr X to take court action if he wants compensation for the alleged damage.

Complaint about social worker

9. The events complained of are alleged to have happened in 2018 so the restriction in paragraph 2 above applies. Mr X says he was too frightened to complain sooner. However, the social worker concerned ended involvement with Mr X and his wife in early 2019. I consider Mr X could reasonably have complained within 12 months of then at the latest. So I am not persuaded there are good reasons to accept the complaint late.
10. Separately, I note Mr X says the threats were made by telephone and while the social worker was visiting Mr X. There are no witnesses now and the Council said it would be difficult for it to investigate this point. I do not consider there is a realistic prospect of the Ombudsman reaching a clear enough view now about what was said in conversations three years ago, or the reasons behind what might have been said. For this reason also I shall not investigate this point.
11. Mr X wants the social worker to be removed from the Council. The Ombudsman would not recommend removal of individual staff. As we cannot achieve what Mr X wants, that is another reason not to investigate this part of the complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because he can take court action about the alleged damage, the complaint about the social worker is late and it is unlikely we would be able to reach a clear enough view on either part of the complaint.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman