Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alleged failure of the Council to assess and safeguard Mr X for several years up to 2024. Investigation would be unlikely to establish a causal link between the actions of the Council, and the injustice Mr X complains of. The Council has also already offered Mr X an assessment, and we would be unlikely to recommend more than this.

The complaint

1. Mr X said the Council failed to safeguard and assess him for adaptations and his memory for several years up to 2024 after he suffered a serious assault. He said this led to him being detained under the Mental Health Act.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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:

• 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))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Owing to Mr X’s claimed circumstances during the period before 2024, I would not have expected him to approach us sooner. So, I do not exclude matters before 2024, but have instead exercised the discretion available to us to consider them.
8. However, investigating these matters would be unlikely to lead to a funding that a possible failure by the Council to assess Mr X led directly to him being detained under the Mental Health Act. We are not qualified to reach conclusions about cause and effect in medical matters.
9. Regarding late 2024, the Council accepted when Mr X complained to it that it had not followed up a telephone assessment. It apologised and offered Mr X assessments both of his mental capacity and of his potential care needs. Were we to investigate, we would be unlikely to recommend more than that.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because doing so would be unlikely to lead to a different or more worthwhile outcome than that already offered by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman