Plymouth City Council (23 012 185)
Category : Adult care services > Safeguarding
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Dec 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation, and we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant wants.
The complaint
- Ms B says the Council is failing to adequately support her neighbour (X), who is in obvious distress. This is upsetting for Ms B and her family to hear, and she wants the Council to move X.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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, or
- any fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained to justify our involvement, or
- we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
- further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
- we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
- there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- It is upsetting for Ms B and her family when they hear X in distress. However, there is not enough evidence to support this is caused by any fault of the Council.
- The Council’s duty is to meet X’s adult social care needs, and it is doing that.
- The Ombudsman cannot achieve the outcome Ms B wants, for X to move.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault, and we cannot achieve the outcome Ms B wants. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by an Ombudsman investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman