Leicester City Council (19 012 357)
Category : Adult care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Jan 2020
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council’s actions in connection with his social care. This is because the outcomes Mr B sought for his complaint have now been provided by the Council and there are no outstanding issues which warrant investigation by the Ombudsman.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I refer to as Mr B, complains about the Council’s actions in connection with his social care. He says he wants a change of care provider and a change to his social work team.
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 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
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- In considering the complaint I reviewed the information provided by Mr B and the Council. I gave Mr B the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
What I found
- Mr B contacted the Council with various concerns he had relating to his social care. He told the Council he wanted to change his care provider and to change his social work team.
- The Council has confirmed it has now facilitated both these changes for Mr B.
- As these are the outcomes Mr B sought for his complaint, and there are no outstanding matters which warrant investigation by the Ombudsman, we will not consider the complaint further.
Final decision
- The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because the outcomes Mr B sought for his complaint have now been provided by the Council and there are no outstanding issues which warrant investigation by the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman