Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council closing his son’s case in 2017. There is nothing further we could to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council referred his son, Y, to the health authority in 2017 without informing the family. Mr X only discovered it had done so when he asked it why it had not carried out any reviews of Y’s care for seven years in April 2024. Mr X was distressed the Council had written off Y as a “terminal 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 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:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

What happened

5. In late 2016 Mr X cancelled his son, Y’s care and support package because he was unhappy the Council had increased the contribution Y had to pay towards his care.
6. Council records show a home visit in September 2017 to complete a fast-track referral to the health authority. The referral was made a week later and was accepted by the health authority. The Council closed its adult social care record in March 2017 as Y’s care was being funded by the health authority. There is no record to show thew Council wrote to the family to explain it had closed the case.
7. Nothing further happened until April 2024 when Mr X contacted the Council asking for support for Y because he and Y’s mother had health issues. The Council then identified that both it and the health authority had closed Y’s case. The Council opened a new case, carried out an assessment of Y’s needs and is arranging care and support for Y.
8. In its complaint responses, the Council explained what had happened and responded to the questions the family raised. Mr X complained to us because he felt he had not had a proper explanation of what had happened and that his son had been written off as a terminal case by the Council.

My assessment

9. The Council has provided relevant records to support the explanation it gave Mr X in its complaint responses, as set out above. Given the lapse of time since the events complained about, and the lack of any other records, the Council cannot provide the fuller explanation Mr X seeks and its is unlikely we could add to the Council's investigation.
10. The records show Y’s care and support package had been cancelled in late 2016 so there was no care package to review annually. Whilst the Council could have reviewed Y’s needs, there was no reason for it to do so because it understood his care had been transferred to the health authority. It only discovered that had not happened in April 2024.
11. It has since carried out a needs assessment and is arranging care and support, which is appropriate.
12. Although I appreciate Mr X’s frustration about the lack of explanation, further investigation by us is unlikely to add to the Council’s own investigation or achieve a worthwhile outcome.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot add to the Council’s own investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman