Summary: Ms B complains about the behaviour of officers towards her when its Social Services team sought to communicate with a friend who she supports. The Ombudsman will not investigate the complaint because there are insufficient grounds to warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to as Ms B, says Council officers, who were seeking to contact and engage with a friend she provides support for, were rude to her and made accusations against her being obstructive which were untrue and which caused her health to worsen as well as distress and upset for which she wants an apology.

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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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. In considering the complaint I spoke to Ms B and reviewed the information she provided. I gave Ms B the opportunity to comment on my draft decision and considered what she said.

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What I found

5. Ms B, who is elderly and disabled, provides support to an elderly friend, Mr X, who lives near her and spends time regularly in her house. Ms B says Mr X is vulnerable as a result of a health condition.
6. In February 2019, a Council social worker visited Ms B’s home unannounced to speak with Mr X. This was followed by further visits to her home which Ms B allowed and at which different views were expressed by officers and Ms B about what Mr X wanted or agreed to with regard to social services involvement.
7. Unhappy with the behaviour of officers she had contact with and believing she had wrongly been called obstructive and a liar, Ms B complained to the Council seeking an apology from those officers concerned.
8. Initially the Council offered to meet with Ms B to discuss matters but it then wrote to her to advise that as there appeared to be some disagreement regarding the details of her complaint, and while she had indicated she might consider a meeting, it felt that a meeting would not resolve matters and only cause her further distress, so it advised her of the option of referring her complaint to the Ombudsman.

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Assessment

9. I understand Ms B has been distressed by the nature of the contact made by officers and what has been said to her. Ms B seeks an apology from those officers concerned. However, generally we do not investigate complaints where the only likely remedy would be an apology even if fault were found. Moreover, in this case, it is unlikely we would be able to determine exactly what had been said.
10. Ms B says the action of the officers has affected her health. However, such a claim would be for the courts and not the Ombudsman to determine.
11. Given the apparent breakdown in the relationship between her/Mr X and officers, Ms B is concerned about problems in the future should she and Mr X need to request help from the Council. However, there is no evidence to suggest such a request would not be dealt with in the normal manner.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because there are insufficient grounds to warrant an investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman