Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to allow the complainant’s mother to move from her residential care home. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. We could not achieve the complainant’s desired outcome as his mother was subject to Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLS), which we could not challenge, and has now died.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr D, says that the Council refused to allow his mother to leave her residential nursing home, even though she was unhappy there, and he wanted her to come home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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 achieve the desired outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr B.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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Final decision

5. I will not investigate Mr B’s complaint because an investigation by the LGSCO could not achieve his desired outcome. We could not challenge a DOLS decision, and the outcome of it could not be changed as Mrs D has now died.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman