Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to accept Ms X’s son into its service for adults with severe learning disabilities. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council wrongly declined to accept her son into its specialist service for adults with severe learning disabilities. Ms X said she was concerned that as a result her son would not receive the right support and she has been caused distress.
2. Ms X wants the Council to carry out an adult social care assessment and reconsider its decision regarding the specialist support service.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (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 Ms X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council has a specialist service for young adults with a severe and enduring learning disability. Ms X applied for her son to be supported by this service. The Council said he did not meet the criteria as his diagnosis was of a moderate learning disability.
7. Ms X provided evidence to the Council. It was repeated several times in this evidence that her son was diagnosed with a moderate learning disability. One document said while the diagnosis was moderate, it could be considered severe in an education context.
8. The Council considered the evidence and decided her son did not meet the criteria to access the specialist service. It was entitled to set this criteria and apply it in this way. The Council told Ms X it could still carry out an adult social care assessment to decide what support her son needed.
9. We will not investigate this complaint further. The Council applied its criteria correctly and it has already agreed to carry out an adult social care needs assessment. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify further investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman