Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult safeguarding. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault causing a significant injustice to justify our involvement. There is no worthwhile outcome to be achieved from an Ombudsman investigation.

The complaint

1. Ms D says the Council failed to safeguard her relative, Mr E, from financial and physical abuse since 2021. Ms E says the Council failed to properly deal with her complaint in 2023. Ms D felt fobbed off by the Council.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
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:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any fault has not caused significant injustice to the person who complained to justify our involvement, 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

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

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My assessment

6. Ms D has known about the issues she complains of since 2021 and gives no good reason why she could not raise a complaint with the Ombudsman sooner. The Ombudsman will not therefore consider the issues from 2021 onwards as they are a late complaint. Mr E died at the start of 2024, the Ombudsman will consider what happened in the 12 months preceding, so from the start of 2023.
7. The Council is the local safeguarding authority, its aim is to protect an adult’s right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. The Council must decide whether a concern it receives warrants an enquiry. The purpose of an enquiry is to decide whether the Council, or another organisation, or person, should do something to help and protect the adult.
8. In 2023 the Council completed an enquiry on a concern of someone financially abusing Mr E. The Council reached an outcome, in conjunction with the Office of the Public Guardian.
9. In 2023 the Council opened an enquiry on a concern someone was emotionally and psychologically abusing Mr E. The same matters were also being considered by the Court of Protection, and the Council was working in conjunction with the Court. Mr E died before the court decided about his welfare.
10. There is not enough evidence to suggest there was fault in the safeguarding actions in 2023. Other formal bodies were looking into the allegations at the same time and have reached their own conclusions.
11. Even if there were any fault, the likely outcomes of any safeguarding investigation were already underway with the involvement of the Court of Protection. The court would decide any action to protect Mr E’s finances and welfare. The Council would likely have had to refer the matter to the court if the Office of the Public Guardian had not already done so.
12. The Ombudsman would find no fault in the Council deciding the complaint process was not suitable to consider the issues while there was continuing safeguarding or court actions. The Council provided a complaint response in March 2024 so there is not enough evidence of fault in its complaint handling.
13. We understand this was a difficult situation with a complex family dispute causing significant upset and distress to Ms D. There is not enough evidence to suggest the Councils actions or inactions caused significant distress, rather than it being caused by the situation itself.
14. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable from an Ombudsman investigation. Mr E has died and no longer needs safeguarding, and we could provide no remedy for any impact on him. I am not satisfied Ms D’s injustice is solely caused by the Council’s actions and that any impact from the Council’s actions is enough to justify an investigation. We would not investigate solely to ask for an apology as that would not be a proportionate use of our resource.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Ms D’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault causing a significant injustice to justify our involvement. There is no worthwhile outcome to be achieved from an Ombudsman investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman