Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about failure to complete an adult social care needs assessment. This is because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigation. The person has since died and no longer needs an assessment, and we could not say the outcome would be any different had an assessment taken place at the relevant time.

The complaint

1. Ms F says the Council failed to do a care act assessment of her mother (Ms G’s) adult social care needs. Ms F says the Council’s actions meant Ms G moved from the care home where she was settled, to a cheaper care home.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by:

• their personal representative (if they have one), or
• someone we consider to be suitable.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2), as amended)

4. We cannot provide a remedy to someone who has died.
5. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

Back to top

My assessment

8. Ms F complains about the Council’s failure to complete an assessment of Ms G’s care needs in 2019, under the Care Act 2014. Ms F has known about the issue since 2019 and so it is a late complaint as explained in paragraph two.
9. Ms F says she went through the NHS complaints procedure first who then signposted her to the Council, and that is why it has taken so long.
10. Even if the Ombudsman decided to investigate, there is no worthwhile outcome we can now achieve. Ms G has died and no longer needs an assessment of her adult social care needs.
11. Ms F says she wants compensation. The Ombudsman does not award compensation, though we may recommend symbolic payments to recognise the impact on someone caused by Council fault. We could not provide a remedy to Ms G for any impact caused by Council fault.
12. The Council says it offered an assessment in 2019 and Ms F turned it down. So even if the Ombudsman investigated it is unlikely we would find fault. Or if we did, we may not find any significant injustice. Ms G was living in a care home, and so it seems likely the care home was meeting her needs. It is likely a Care Act assessment would have only confirmed the need for residential or nursing care.
13. Ms F says because of the Council’s failure to assess Ms G, she moved to a cheaper home. This may have been the same even if the Council had completed an assessment. The Ombudsman could not say Ms G would not have moved. The Council says Ms G was responsible to fund her own care. It seems likely Ms F would have made the same decision to move Ms G to have her needs met in a cheaper environment.

Back to top

Final decision

14. We will not investigate Ms F’s complaint because it is late, but mainly because we could not achieve any worthwhile outcome.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman