Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a safeguarding referral. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council:
• Failed to take appropriate action after it received a safeguarding referral about her. She said the Council did not properly consider her health conditions.
• Shared confidential information about her with its Housing Service. She said the Housing Service used that information against her. She said she experiences bullying from the Housing Service.
• Had relied on her to provide care for her sibling for several years. Ms X said that resulted in a deterioration in her health and hospital admissions.
2. Ms X wants the Council to stop making assumptions about her health and reconsider the safeguarding referral.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. 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
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

5. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
6. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
7. We cannot investigate complaints about the provision or management of social housing by a council acting as a registered social housing provider. (Local Government Act 1974, paragraph 5A schedule 5, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
9. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

10. 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. (section 42, Care Act 2014)
11. Ms X contacted the Council in December 2023 about difficulties she was having accessing her home and the impact repairs to her sibling’s property were having upon her. The Council did not consider the information provided met the threshold for safeguarding enquiries as there was no cause to suspect abuse or neglect. The Council passed the referral to a Health Service who supported Ms X.
12. We will not investigate this complaint. The Council considered the information Ms X provided in line with the statutory guidance. There is not enough evidence of fault in how it acted to justify our involvement.
13. In the Council’s complaint response, it accepted it had delayed in progressing an Occupational Therapist’s assessment for Ms X. It offered Ms X £500 remedy for that delay. It also said it would contact her to arrange an appointment. As the Council has accepted fault, apologised and offered a suitable remedy we will not investigate this complaint. That is because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
14. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint the Council shared confidential information about her with its Housing Service. That is because complaints about data protection are dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Ms X has already taken this complaint to the ICO.
15. We will also not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council’s Housing Service. Ms X and her sibling are both council tenants. The law says we cannot investigate the Council’s actions when it is acting as a social landlord. These are matters for the Housing Ombudsman Service.
16. Ms X complained the Council has relied on her to provide care for her sister for several years. We have previously investigated this complaint and issued a decision in May 2023. We will not reinvestigate complaints we have previously considered. If there are new matters that have occurred since our previous decision, Ms X would need to raise these with the Council and exhaust its complaint process before we could consider them.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman