Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has removed his mother into care and will not disclose her location. This is because an investigation is unlikely to find fault. Furthermore, Mr X does not have consent to complain on Mrs X’s behalf and Mrs X has capacity to make her own decisions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has taken his mother into care and will not disclose her location or allow access.
2. Mr X complains that his mother lacks capacity to provide consent or make her own decisions.
3. Mr X wants a qualified medical professional to complete a capacity assessment and the Council to allow him access to his mother.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered Mr X’s complaint to the Ombudsman and the information he provided. I have written to Mr X with my draft decision and considered his comments in response.

Back to top

What I found

7. In October 2019 the Council took Mrs X into care. The Council says that Mrs X consented to this move. Mr X says that Mrs X lacks capacity to give consent.
8. The Council says that Mrs X does not wish to have contact with her family. Mr X disputes this and wants the Council to allow access.
9. We can only investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if that person has given consent.
10. Mrs X has not given us consent to investigate a complaint made on her behalf. We cannot investigate any issues which directly affect Mrs X.
11. We can look at Mr X’s concerns about the Council not disclosing Mrs X’s location to him as this has a personal impact on him.
12. A Council social worker spoke to Mrs X and determined she had capacity to decide to move into a care home and not disclose her whereabouts to her family. The Council has provided evidence to support this.
13. Since the Council has taken suitable steps to confirm Mrs X has capacity to make her own decisions, it is unlikely we would find fault with the actions of the Council.
14. It is not for us to question if a person has capacity to make their own decisions or require a capacity assessment of someone.
15. Since Mrs X has capacity to make her own decisions, we cannot achieve Mr X’s requested outcome of confirmation of the location and access to Mrs X.

Back to top

Final decision

16. My decision is that the Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because an investigation is unlikely to find fault. Furthermore, Mr X does not have consent to raise a complaint on Mrs X’s behalf and Mrs X has capacity to make her own decisions.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman