Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint her son’s Independent Living Placement restricted her access. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the suitability of an Independent Living Placement the Council arranged for her son, Mr Y. She the Placement, did not meet Mr Y’s needs and that his health deteriorated whilst he lived there. She said following an incident, the Placement stopped her visiting Mr Y at the property, without considering her version of events. She said it failed to contact her to let her know when she could return. Mrs X wants the Placement to apologise for its actions.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaints about the suitability of the Placement, or the care it provided to Mr Y whilst he lived there. That is because these matters have not been raised as substantive complaints with either the Council or the Placement. The complaint made to the Placement was about its decision Mrs X posed a risk to staff and that the Council instructed the Placement to prevent Mrs X entering the property. If Mrs X has wider concerns about the suitability of the Placement and the care and support Mr Y received whilst there, she would need to exhaust the Council’s complaint process before we would consider it.
6. We will also not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Placement’s decision to ban her from its property. In its complaint response, the Placement said this decision was based upon concerns raised by staff and the ban was a temporary measure until it could made a long-term decision. It said Mr Y still had regular contact with Mrs X outside of the property. It arranged a meeting shortly after it introduced the ban to discuss the concerns. In that meeting a manager offered to support Mrs X on her first return visit to the property. There is not enough evidence of fault in how the Placement dealt with the initial concerns to justify our involvement.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman