Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to progress a Care Act assessment. This is because any injustice is not significant enough.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council failed to complete a Care Act transition or adult needs assessment for her son, Mr Y. And handled her complaints poorly.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, 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

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

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My assessment

5. In response to Mrs X’s complaints the Council accepted it failed to correctly progress a referral for a Care Act assessment for Mr Y in August 2025. It apologised, confirmed it would train its staff to prevent recurrence, and agreed to allocate a social worker, complete an assessment and consider Mr Y’s housing needs. I note the assessment has since been completed and resulted in the Council agreeing to provide support to promote independent living once Mr Y had moved into his own accommodation.
6. The Council has already taken appropriate action to resolve the complaint. While its delay will have caused distress and uncertainty, the remaining injustice is not significant enough to justify an investigation.
7. It is not a proportionate use of resources to investigate the Council’s complaint handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because any injustice is not significant enough.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman