Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a carer’s assessment carried out by the Council. This is because the Council has agreed to address the matter through the appropriate complaint procedure, and this provides a proportional remedy for the injustice caused to the complainant.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss X, complains that the Council has been at fault in producing a flawed carer’s assessment, in failing to implement its recommendations and in declining to escalate her subsequent complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. Under the information sharing agreement between the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), we will share this decision with Ofsted.

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X was the subject of a carer’s assessment as the parent of a disabled child. She made a complaint to the Council about the assessment and what she saw as the Council’s failure to implement its recommendations. The Council did not uphold the complaint. We have taken no view on the substantive matter.
7. Complaints about carer’s assessments for the carers of disabled children fall to be considered under the statutory procedure for children’s services complaints. The Council declined to escalate this complaint after its initial response.
8. If we were to investigate it is likely we would find fault causing Miss X injustice, in that she has been denied the scrutiny of her complaint which the statutory procedure provides, and to which she is entitled.

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Agreed action

9. We invited the Council to, within one month of the date of this decision, offer Miss X access to Stage 2 of the statutory procedure and appoint an investigating officer. To its credit, the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by doing so.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman