Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to provide a piece of equipment the complaint asked for to help her care for her child. There is no evidence of fault in the way the Council made its decision.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Mrs X, complains that the Council has refused her request to replace the bath seat she uses when bathing her disabled child.

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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 effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Mrs X says the Council has agreed to make adaptations to her home to help her care for her disabled child. She says that, until the adaptations are carried out, she needs to bathe her child upstairs with the use of a bath seat.
6. The Council previously provided Mrs X with a bath seat, but her child has outgrown it. She has asked the Council to replace it so she can continue to bathe her child upstairs until the adaptations make this unnecessary. The Council has declined to do so. It takes the view that, as Mrs X’s child has grown it has become dangerous to carry her upstairs. If it provides a bath seat, it will therefore be enabling a practice it does not believe is safe.
7. Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s decision. She says it is not dangerous for her husband to carry their child upstairs and wants the matter reconsidered.
8. We will not investigate this complaint. Mrs X disagrees with the Council’s decision but that does not mean the Ombudsman can, or should, intervene. Whether it is appropriate to provide a particular piece of equipment is a matter for the professional judgement of the Council’s officers. Without evidence of fault in the way they made their decision, it is not for the Ombudsman to criticise it, or intervene to substitute an alternative view.
9. The Council’s explanation for its decision not to provide the equipment is reasonable and defensible. That being the case, the Ombudsman cannot intervene.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is no indication of fault on the Council’s part.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman