Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s communications with him about the care needs of his family member. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. This is because we have no remit to look at what happened during court proceedings, and we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in other matters.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council has ignored him when it makes decisions about his family member’s care and support needs citing what happened in court.
2. Mr X would like the Council to act in his family member’s best interests and involve him (Mr X) consistently or not at all.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. We cannot investigate a complaint once court action starts or about what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
6. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the Mr X including during a telephone call. I asked the Council for its responses to Mr X.
8. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My assessment

9. We cannot look at what happened in court. The Council says the judge was satisfied with the Council’s explanation that Mr X had not been involved with his family member for a long time. If Mr X disagrees, he can consider taking his own legal action to pursue this issue further.
10. With respect to the Council’s communications with Mr X, I have read the Council’s responses of 7 February and 25 March 2024. These responses refer to earlier Council responses sent to Mr X.
11. The Council outlines different officers Mr X should contact for information on his family member’s daily care and assessments/reviews.
12. I note the Council says it was Mr X’s decision to cease contact with the organization providing his family member’s care in 2021. And to change his email address which it has kept confidential at his request.
13. Taking all of the above into account, we will not look at the Council’s communications with Mr X. This is because we are unlikely to find evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
14. Mr X also complained about aspects of the care provided to his family member during his telephone call. This complaint is premature under our procedures and should be made to the Council before we can consider.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we have no remit to look at what happened in court. And we are unlikely to find evidence of fault in the remaining aspects.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman