Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that a Council officer pushed or elbowed her during a visit to assess her care needs. An allegation of assault is for the police. Investigation will not add to the information held or result in the outcome Ms X wants.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains that a Council officer pushed her during a visit in December 2019 and treated her with a lack of respect. Ms X says the Council should apologise.

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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.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered Ms X’s information, comments and reply to my draft decision statement. The information held includes the Council’s assessment of needs, Ms X’s complaint to the Council and its replies.

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What I found

4. On 3 December 2019 two Council officers visited Ms X to assess her care needs. The officers said that Ms X was not eligible for help and she asked them to leave. Ms X had received a morning home care call for some years.
5. Ms X’s complaint to the Council says the officer ‘elbowed me in the stomach on her way out the door, which sent me backwards nearly knocking me over…’ Her complaint to the Ombudsman says the officer ‘pushed me’. Ms X says she was caught in her left lower rib. She does not have a witness to what happened. Ms X says she does not want the Council to visit again.
6. The Council says the two officers agree that Ms X stepped backwards and made a sound as though pushed. However, the officers were not near her at the time.

Analysis

7. I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons:
1. Ms X appears to be alleging assault which is a matter for the police.
2. It is not likely that investigation will add to the information held or result in the outcome Ms X wants. Ms X and the officers have a different recall of what happened.

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Final decision

8. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that a Council officer pushed or elbowed her during a visit to assess her care needs. An allegation of assault is a matter for the police. Investigation will not add to the information held or result in the outcome Ms X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman