Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about lack of response to emails sent to the Council because it does not cause Ms B significant injustice to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms B says the Council failed to respond to her e-mails about a safeguarding alert. The issues have affected Ms B’s mental health.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
• any fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Ms B complains about matters relating to her employment with a care provider. She says an assignment as a live-in carer had a significant detrimental effect on her mental health. Ms B says the care provider did not answer her calls for help and the Council is investigating under safeguarding, but Ms B has not had a reply to e-mails she sent to the Council.
6. A council must make enquiries if it thinks a person may be at risk of abuse or neglect and has care and support needs which mean the person cannot protect themselves. An enquiry is the action taken by a council in response to a concern about abuse or neglect. An enquiry could range from a conversation with the person who is the subject of the concern, to a more formal multi-agency arrangement. A council must also decide whether it or another person or agency should take any action to protect the person from abuse. (section 42, Care Act 2014)
7. It is unlikely Ms B’s report to the Council’s safeguarding team would trigger an enquiry because Ms B is not in need of care and support, she was the person providing the care and support.
8. However, we would expect the Council to respond to Ms B’s correspondence and manage her expectations about its role. If the safeguarding enquiry is about the client Ms B was supporting, then the Council would be unable to share any information with Ms B about that but could explain that to her.
9. At this stage I have no evidence to support Ms B has contacted the Council or that it failed to respond. But I do not need that information because any lack of response by the Council does not cause Ms B a significant injustice to warrant an Ombudsman investigation. The main injustice Ms B suffered was caused by her employer, which is not an area the Ombudsman has powers to investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because any failure by the Council to respond to her correspondence does not cause a significant injustice that would warrant an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman