Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her adult social care needs. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s handling of her adult social care needs. She says the Council has not provided her with any emergency support, refused to complete a carer’s assessment, and inappropriately included information from an early help assessment in her care assessment.

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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 an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
3. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Miss X approached the Council for support. The Council completed an adult social care needs assessment. The assessment set out what was discussed with Miss X, including the difficulties she was having. It was noted Miss X needed help with her two children.
7. The care assessment found Miss X’s needs arise because of her caring responsibilities for a child. The Council signposted Miss X to various services and organisations that could provide appropriate support to her. The assessment found Miss X did not have any eligible care and support needs that needed to be supported by adult social care.
8. An investigation is not justified as we are not likely to find fault with the way the Council completed the care assessment. As the Council has not identified Miss X has having any eligible social care needs, it is not required to provide her with any support.
9. I note Miss X said the Council inappropriately included information from an early help assessment in her care assessment. However, the Council said the adults social care service were not provided with any assessment from the children’s service.
10. Even if the Council had used information taken from the early help assessment, it is not likely we would find fault with the Council for this. This is because assessments should contain all relevant information, even if the information was gained from a different service. We also do not criticise council departments for sharing information with each other.
11. The Council has completed a carer’s assessment for Miss X. The assessment identified the issues Miss X had with caring for her child, and what support she wanted from the Council. Therefore, an investigation is not justified as the Council has appropriately completed a carer’s assessment to identify what difficulties she has and if any support is appropriate.
12. The Council has confirmed that as Miss X’s caring difficulties related to a child, this falls into the remit of children’s social care services. The Council is currently investigating Miss X’s complaints under the children statutory complaints procedure. Once Miss X has exhausted the statutory procedure, she is welcomed to bring her complaint about children social services to us to consider.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because there is insufficient evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman