The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to supply personal protective equipment during a three-month period from November 2021. The Council’s apology is sufficient for the injustice caused and we could not add to its investigation or achieve a different outcome by investigating.
The complaint
Mr X said the Council failed to provide personal protective equipment for carers during a period of about three months from November 2021. He said this caused time and trouble in chasing this up and put his family at risk of catching Covid-19.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with 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.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council reply to the complaint that Mr X supplied accepted that there had been a failure to supply. It apologised for this. Despite the failure, Mr X has not stated that anyone in his family contracted Covid-19 during this period. I accept that the situation would have been worrying and have caused him some time and trouble. But the Council’s apology is sufficient remedy for this.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not add to the Council’s investigation or achieve a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman