East Sussex County Council (22 012 233)
Category : Adult care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Jan 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about failure to tell Ms B of her uncle’s death because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. We could not add to the Council’s investigation or reach a different outcome.
The complaint
- Ms B says the Council failed to contact she or her brother to tell them of their uncle’s death, despite having a record they were his next of kin. Because of this they missed their uncle’s funeral and are upset that no-one was there.
- Ms B also says her uncle’s personal effects are missing.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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:
- there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council says it had no record of Ms B or her brother as next of kin. Without that information it could not contact them and cannot share any information with them.
- As Ms B is not recorded in the Council’s records as next of kin then we cannot say the Council was at fault for not contacting her.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because without evidence in the Council’s records there is not enough evidence of fault to justify the Ombudsman investigating. We could not add to the Council’s investigation or reach a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman