Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about intimidation by the Council because the issues are not ongoing and there is no worthwhile outcome we can achieve.

The complaint

1. Mr D says the Council intimidated he and his mother (Mrs E) which resulted in the Council recording someone different to Mr D as Mrs E’s next of kin. Mr D says this meant he could not represent Mrs E when she was receiving medical treatments.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

3. We cannot provide a remedy to someone who has died.

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs E has died since Mr D first approached the Ombudsman. The outcome Mr D wanted was for the Council to stop intimidating he and his mother and undermining efforts to get the best medical care. We can no longer achieve this outcome and there is no ongoing injustice that would warrant investigation.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mr D’s complaint because we cannot achieve a worthwhile outcome, there is no ongoing injustice to warrant investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman