Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about care staff accessing Mr B’s property and how the Care Provider dealt with the matter. This is because the complaint is not about actions that involve, or are connected to, the provision of adult social care. So, we have no power to investigate the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr B says the Care Provider entered the flat following a report from an unreliable source that Mrs B was shouting for help. Mr and Mrs B were out at the time; the Care Provider did not tell them until the next day and not record the incident at the time. Mr B says there was no emergency so the Care Provider should not have entered. It is upsetting to know strangers have been in their home, and leaves Mr and Mrs B feeling vulnerable.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. We can investigate the actions of adult social care providers. This is defined as “a person who carried on an activity which:

• Involves, or is connected with, the provision of adult social care, and
• Is a regulated activity within the meaning of Part 1 of the 2008 Act.”

(Local Government Act 1974, Part 3A)

4. ‘Regulated activities’ include giving personal care or other practical support in the place where the person lives.
5. The law defines ‘personal care and other practical support’ as ‘physical assistance (or prompting and assistance) given to a person in connection with:

• eating or drinking (including giving nutrition other than by mouth or alimentary canal);
• toileting (including in relation to menstruation);
• washing or bathing;
• dressing;
• oral care; or
• the care of skin, hair and nails (except for nail care provided by a chiropodist or podiatrist)’.

(Local Government (Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Mr and Mrs B live in an Extra Care property. This is independent living with access to on-site care if needed. The on-site care is provided by Radis Community Care who are run by G P Homecare Limited (the Care Provider).
9. Mr and Mrs B do not have any package of care support from the Care Provider. Despite this the Care Provider accessed their property following an alert from a neighbour. The Care Provider relies on Mr and Mrs B’s tenancy agreement to allow for accessing a property in an emergency. Any issues regarding Mr and Mrs B’s tenancy are not within our powers to investigate.
10. The incident was not in connection with the provision of adult social care. So, although the Care Provider is a body we could investigate, the complaint is not about an action that we have any powers to investigate.
11. While Mr B is also unhappy about the way the Care Provider dealt with his complaint, the courts have said that where we cannot investigate a complaint about the main or underlying issue, we cannot normally investigate related issues either. (R (on the application of M) v Commissioner for Local Administration in England [2006] EWHC 2847 (Admin)).  So, where the substance of a complaint is not subject to investigation, the Ombudsman does not investigate the Care Provider’s handling of the issue by itself.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because it is not about the provision of adult social care as defined by law and we have no legal power to do so.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman