Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about lack of support given to her late mother-in-law’s, Mrs C’s, family. This is because the Council has acknowledged its failings and apologised. We are satisfied this remedies the injustice caused by the fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs B complained about the lack of information and support provided to the family of her mother-in-law Mrs C, following hospitalisation and move to a care home. Mrs B says she was told a social worker would contact the family but despite chasing this up, the assessment was completed without family involvement. Mrs B says she was not given contact details or a named social worker, there was no financial assessment or care needs assessment completed and no one contacted the family. Mrs B wants a full explanation about what happened in Mrs C’s case.

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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 may decide not to start an investigation if 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.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The Council acknowledged standards were not followed and apologised that Mrs C’s family were not included as part of the assessment process. It confirmed it has spoken to the staff member involved who was very apologetic for not acting in accordance with expected standards. The Council confirmed it will not request funding for care fees incurred after the assessment process had been completed.
6. The Council has explained what it has done to remedy the fault and we could achieve no more than this even if we investigated. We are satisfied the Council’s actions remedy the injustice caused by the fault.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint because further investigation by us could not achieve anything more than the Council has already provided.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman