Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care support to a carer. This is because there is not enough injustice to justify our involvement.

The complaint

1. Mr C says the Council:
• Refused to respond to a complaint to remove him as the nominated person for his relative’s Kent card.
• Refused to look at his needs as a carer.
• Refuses to respond to his complaints.
2. Mr C says this causes him unnecessary stress on top of the demands of caring for disabled family members.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We do not investigate all complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
7. Although Mr C feels stressed at the Council’s actions this is not a significant enough injustice to justify our involvement. Mr C says he receives some respite from his caring role.
8. Mr C can ask the Council for a carers assessment to reconsider any support he may be entitled to in his caring role. The Council confirms it has not completed an assessment in the last 12 months.
9. Mr C is also unhappy with the way the Council dealt with his complaints. But it is not a good use of public resources to look at the Council’s complaints handling if we are not going to look at the substantive issue complained about. We will not therefore investigate this issue separately.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr C’s complaint because there is not enough injustice to justify our involvement. It is also unlikely an Ombudsman investigation would reach a different outcome. Mr C can ask the Council to provide a carers assessment to consider the support he receives as a carer.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman