Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult care services because Mr Y has not suffered a significant enough injustice.

The complaint

1. Mr Y complained a staff member at one of the Care Provider’s facilities was violent and aggressive. Mr Y feels the matter was not properly investigated by the Care Provider.
2. Mr Y is concerned for the residents at the Care Provider’s property.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information Mr Y and the Care Provider provided and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr Y complained a staff member for the Care Provider was, outside of work hours, violent and aggressive and behaved inappropriately. The Care Provider says it followed its personnel procedures to investigate after the allegations were made. The incident is disputed by the staff member. Mr Y approached us in January 2024.
7. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the organisation. This means we will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered a serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint where the alleged loss of injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
8. In this instance, Mr Y has not suffered a serious harm, distress or loss. Consequently, we will not investigate.
9. As we are not investigating the substantive matter, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate how the complaint was dealt with. We will not investigate this.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr Y’s complaint because Mr Y has not suffered a significant enough injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman