Summary: We will not investigate Ms M’s complaint about her son’s care package because the Council has increased his support and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

The complaint

1. Ms M complained about the support the Council provided to care for her son.

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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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (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. Ms M complained to the Council in October 2024. She had asked the Council to provide more support to care for her son. He had recently stopped attending school. The Council declined Ms M’s request because it said the school could meet her son’s needs during the day.
6. The Council responded to Ms M’s complaint at both stages of its complaints process. The Council did not uphold Ms M’s complaint.
7. Ms M complained to us in August 2025. She was unhappy with the level of support the Council provided. It has taken longer than we would have liked for us to consider Ms M’s complaint.
8. The Council sent me its assessment and details of the care package it agreed for Ms M’s son in the autumn of 2025. I was sorry to read that Ms M’s son’s health has deteriorated. The Council accepts he is now unable to go to school and requires more support at home. The Council has increased his care package.
9. We do not decide how much support the Council should provide. This is the Council’s job. Our role is to check the Council makes its decisions properly.
10. The available evidence shows the Council has increased the support it provides as Ms M’s son’s needs have increased. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigating Ms M’s complaint now.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms M’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman