Summary: The Ombudsman will investigate Mrs Q’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a safeguarding enquiry regarding her mother. This is because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council and we cannot investigate the Police.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I have called Mrs Q, complained about Suffolk County Council’s handling of a safeguarding enquiry regarding her mother, Mrs M. Mrs Q said her mother’s care agency made untrue allegations about her and, as a result, she was prevented from seeing her mother before she died.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
3. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. We cannot investigate the actions of bodies such as the Police. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 25 and 34A, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mrs Q provided. I considered Mrs Q’s response to a draft of this decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. Mrs Q said her mother’s care agency made false allegations about her (Mrs Q). The Council started a safeguarding enquiry. It later apologised to Mrs Q for its lack of contact during its enquiry.
6. The Police started their own enquiry. They arrested Mrs Q. Her bail conditions did not allow her to have contact with her mother.
7. When Mrs M’s condition deteriorated, the care agency asked the Police if Mrs Q could have a supervised visit with her mother. The Police decided this could not happen. Mrs Q did not see her mother again before she died.

Assessment

8. The decision which prevented Mrs Q from having contact with her mother before she died was made by the Police. As the Council did not make this decision we are unlikely to find fault with it.
9. We have no power to investigate the Police. So we cannot investigate how or why the Police would not allow Mrs Q to see her mother.
10. For these reasons, therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs Q’s complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council, and we cannot investigate the Police.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman