Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to safeguarding concerns about Ms X. We cannot investigate the Council’s decision to take court action, or what happened in court. We could not achieve the outcome Ms X seeks, and there is not enough evidence of fault in the elements of her complaint we could consider, to justify us investigating.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about how the Council treated her when it investigated allegations she had abused her brother, Mr Y. Specifically, she says the Council bullied her and tried to destroy her reputation by communicating lies to the police, the Office of the Public Guardian and the Court of Protection. Ms X has experienced distress and her relationship with her brother has been irreparably damaged. Ms X wants the Council to apologise and remove all unsubstantiated allegations from its records.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
3. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Ms X is the subject of safeguarding concerns raised, mainly in relation to her management of her brother’s (Mr Y’s) finances. The Council has been involved due to these concerns for several years. In 2020 and 2021, the Council contacted the police, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) and the Court of Protection (CoP) due to the concerns. Ms X says the concerns were unfounded and based on false allegations, and so believes the Council was wrong to do so. She says in taking this action, the Council bullied her and attempted to defame her.
7. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. This means we cannot consider the Council’s decision to apply to the CoP to replace Ms X as Mr Y’s financial deputy. We cannot consider the content of the Council’s reports written for court.
8. In relation to the other actions Ms X complains about, namely the Council contacting the police and the OPG, it is not for the Ombudsman to decide whether abuse has happened, and whether allegations are valid. Ms X says the Council did not have sufficient credible evidence and relied on hearsay in coming to decisions. However, to take action to protect a vulnerable adult, councils are not held to the standard of proof of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that applies in criminal cases. Ms X provided us with evidence of the Council’s concerns which were sufficient for it to decide, on the balance of probabilities, it needed take action to safeguard Mr Y. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions that would justify the Ombudsman investigating.
9. In any event, Ms X wants the Council to remove all reference to the allegations from its records. We could not achieve this, as councils have a duty to accurately record such concerns. While Ms X says the concerns are unfounded and based on lies, there is no substantive evidence of this and we could not require such records to be deleted. The Council offered to add Ms X’s concerns to its records to make clear what she disputes, which is appropriate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because we cannot investigate the start of court action or what happened in court, there is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s actions, and we could not achieve the outcome Ms X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman