Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult safeguarding. The Council’s actions do not cause the claimed injustice of the complainant losing her job. Correcting data held about the complainant is better considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The complaint

1. Ms B says the Council made decisions based on inaccurate information. Because of this the service users care team was changed, without a proper handover or safeguarding plan. Ms B lost her job as part of that care team and the client lost their long-standing care team. Ms B wants the records corrected, wants an apology, and wants the Council to prevent similar failings in future.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by:

• their personal representative (if they have one), or
• someone we consider to be suitable.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2) and 34C(2), as amended)

3. We have not accepted Ms B as a suitable representative to raise a complaint on behalf of her former client. But we have accepted a complaint in her own right.
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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(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.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Ms B was part of a care team for X. The Council is the local safeguarding authority meaning it is responsible to ensure vulnerable adults in its area, like X, live in safety, free from abuse or neglect.
8. During a safeguarding investigation Ms B says the Council relied on inaccurate information which led to X’s care provision changing. Any actions of the Council’s safeguarding do not directly lead to the claimed injustice of Ms B losing her job. X’s care provision is arranged by the NHS, so any decision about changes to the care was an NHS decision. We have no powers to consider that.
9. We cannot ask the Council to change its contemporaneous records. Ms B could ask it to add to its records her dispute about what is recorded. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent authority set up to uphold information rights. Ms B could approach the ICO about her rights to get data corrected.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because the Council’s actions do not cause the claimed injustice. There is another body better placed to consider the issues of data correction.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman