Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about failure to respond to adult social care concerns through its safeguarding process. Although this caused frustration and upset, it is not significant injustice to justify an Ombudsman investigation. The Council responded to concerns through its complaint process, and regularly reviews the care package.

The complaint

1. Ms C says the Council failed to address her concerns about her relative, Ms D’s, care with the safeguarding team. Ms C is stressed, frustrated and concerned that nobody is listening to her. Ms C wants the Council to meet its duty of care for Ms D.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. The Council arranges Ms D’s care support to meet her adult social care needs. We cannot consider a complaint about Ms D’s care because she has not consented to a complaint being made on her behalf. The Council and care provider are limited on what information they can share with Ms C about Ms D’s care, because Ms D does not consent to information being shared about her care.
7. We can consider Ms C’s complaint about how the Council dealt with her safeguarding report.
8. Safeguarding adults involves protecting adults with care and support needs from abuse and neglect, enabling them to live in safety, and promoting their well-being. It's about preventing and responding to harm, empowering individuals, and ensuring their human rights are upheld. The Council is the local safeguarding authority.
9. Ms C was clearly trying to raise safeguarding concerns, telling the Council its response should have come from the safeguarding team. Despite this, the Council did not treat Ms C’s contact as a safeguarding alert. It dealt with the concerns through its complaint process and by referring to the care provider.
10. Not all alerts made to safeguarding will meet the threshold for a safeguarding enquiry. I could not say the outcome would be any different had the Council’s safeguarding team considered the concerns. Especially given the safeguarding team would have contacted Ms D about the concerns and it is more likely than not she would not have consented to an enquiry.
11. However, by not explaining to Ms C why it was not treating her contact as a safeguarding alert the Council has caused stress and frustration to Ms C. While I recognise this, the injustice to Ms C is not significant enough to justify an Ombudsman investigation.
12. We do not investigate all complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Ms C’s complaint because there is not enough injustice to justify an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman