Bury Metropolitan Borough Council (25 020 134)
Category : Adult care services > Safeguarding
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 14 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of his safeguarding concern. The claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
The complaint
- Mr X complained about how the Council treated him after he raised safeguarding concerns about an adult (Y) he worked with.
- Mr X said the Council’s actions caused distress.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained the Council treated him poorly after he raised safeguarding concerns about Y. Mr X said Y raised concerns with him and his family agreed for Mr X to report them to the Council.
- Mr X said the Council ignored communications, did not invite him to key meetings and treated him in a generally poor manner. Mr X said this led to increased concern for Y’s welfare.
- We will normally only investigate a complaint where the complainant has suffered serious loss, harm or distress as a direct result of faults or failures by an organisation. We do not usually investigate where the person complaining is not the person primarily affected and is complaining about a secondary impact on them.
- The person primarily affected by this matter is Y. It was Y’s safety which was of concern.
- While I acknowledge Mr X’s concern for Y’s welfare, I do not consider he has suffered an injustice significant enough to warrant our involvement. For this reason, we will not investigate this complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the claimed injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman