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

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council failed to safeguard his relative, Mr Y, from financial and emotional abuse since 2021. He wants the Council Officers involved punished and for the Council to award him compensation for lost inheritance and legal costs.

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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
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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 and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X has known about the issues he complains of since 2021 and gives no good reason why he could not raise a complaint with the Ombudsman sooner. The Ombudsman will not therefore consider issues from 2021 onwards as they are late complaints. Mr Y died at the start of 2024, the Ombudsman will consider what has happened in the 12 months preceding so from the start of 2023.
6. 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.
7. In July 2021, Mr X made a safeguarding referral to the Council about someone financially abusing Mr Y. Mr X informed the Council he had also sought advice and guidance from the Office of the Public Guardian about his concerns.
8. The Council made enquiries in 2021, including a home visit to Mr Y and discussions with his General Practitioner (GP). It concluded enquiries but was unable to share the details of its findings because it did not have Mr Y’s consent to disclose this information to Mr X.
9. The Council has responded to Mr X’s complaint about its handling and met with him and another relative to discuss the matter in Summer 2024, after Mr Y had passed away. The Council has apologised that it might not have undertaken enquiries with the appropriate level of professional curiosity or persistence in 2021. The Council also reconfirmed to Mr X that it would cooperate with any enquiries made by the police.
10. Even if there has been fault in the Council’s handling of safeguarding enquiries in 2021, the likely outcome of any safeguarding investigation would have been to refer the matter to the Office of the Public Guardian and/or the Court of Protection. These bodies have the jurisdiction to intervene and act in matters involving financial abuse rather than the Council.
11. It would not be possible to determine that any fault in the Council’s handling of safeguarding enquiries in 2021 directly caused the injustice Mr X and his relatives experienced in losing inheritance and incurring legal costs. We understand this has been a situation with complex family disputes causing significant upset and distress to Mr X for the last four years. There is not enough evidence to suggest the Council’s actions or inactions caused the significant distress, rather than it being caused by the situation itself.
12. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable from an Ombudsman investigation. Mr X has sadly passed away and no longer needs safeguarding, and we could provide no remedy for any impact on him. I am not satisfied Mr X’s injustice is solely caused by the Council’s actions and that any impact from those actions is enough to justify an investigation.
13. In addition, we have no powers to order councils to take disciplinary action against specific employees. We therefore cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants in this respect. It is also not our role to assess any economic losses or award compensation. The courts are for people where this is their primary goal.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman