Summary: We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint about adult safeguarding involving their son, Mr Y. We could not add to the investigations and responses the Council has already provided. We also cannot achieve the outcome Mr and Mrs X want.

The complaint

1. Mr and Mrs X are complaining about safeguarding incidents involving their son, while he lived in supported accommodation commissioned by the Council. They do not believe the Council’s safeguarding enquiries considered all the concerns they raised about their son’s care. They are also very unhappy that senior managers at the care provider remain in post despite staff restructuring. They say the incidents have caused significant distress to Mr Y and his family. They want the care provider shut down.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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:

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainants and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr Y has learning difficulties and a hearing impairment. He lived in supported accommodation commissioned by the Council and run by Company Z. Mr Y needs one-to-one support when out in the community. Mr and Mrs X reported incidents to the Council at the end of 2023 and early 2024, where Mr Y had been verbally abused or left unsupervised by carers working for Company Z. They also reported incidents where Mr Y was hurt while in Company Z’s care or carers failed to meet his needs.
6. Company Z undertook its own investigations into the incidents which led to disciplinary action, including dismissal, of some of the staff members involved. The Council has completed two safeguarding investigations into the various incidents Mr and Mrs X reported to them. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has also considered concerns Mr and Mrs X reported to it about Company Z.
7. Mr Y left the supported accommodation with Company Z sometime in late January 2024. The Council has met with Mr and Mrs X to discuss it safeguarding enquiries and the action Company Z has taken in response to the concerns highlighted by Mr Y’s case. The senior managers from Company Z also attended a Council meeting with Mr and Mrs X. Both the Council and Company Z have offered apologies to Mr and Mrs X for the distress caused to Mr Y and his family by the incidents. The Council has concluded its safeguarding investigation for Mr Y’s case. The Council has advised Mr and Mrs X that its Quality Assurance Team will be monitoring Company Z more closely to ensure it learns from Mr Y’s experience and improves its service. The CQC also appears to have an improvement plan with Company Z following its inspection in early 2024.
8. I appreciate Mr Y and his family found this whole experience extremely distressing and unsettling. I also understand why Mr and Mrs X might remain dissatisfied with how the Council and Company Z have handled their concerns. However, it is unlikely investigation by us now would achieve anything significant for Mr Y and his family. The wider point about whether Company Z’s supported accommodation is safe from incidents such as this is more properly a regulatory matter for the CQC than one for the Council or us.
9. Mr and Mrs X have told us they want Company Z shut down for the poor quality of care it provided to their son. This is not an outcome within our gift to provide or recommend.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr and Mrs X’s complaint because we could not add to the responses the Council has already provided via its own investigation of the matter. We also cannot achieve the outcome the complainants want.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman