The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council failing to escalate Mrs X’s complaint about a failure to arrange payments for support workers properly. Doing so would be unlikely to add to the Council’s own investigation.
The complaint
Mrs X said the Council failed to respond to or escalate her complaint about a failure to arrange payments for support workers properly. She said this meant she had to pay the workers herself.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B)) Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X’s complaint is set in the context of significant failings by the Council concerning respite care for Mrs X’s disabled children as found in complaint 23 019 237. The Council has since paid for respite care sourced by Mrs X.
In its response to her complaint, which she sent us, the Council accepted it had not arranged payments correctly and two workers had been left unpaid at the end of a month. It also accepted it had not responded to her complaint a month after she made it, leading to her requesting escalation. The Council’s response came five days after her request for escalation. It apologised for its payment error and that Mrs X had had to pay carers herself. It also confirmed it had paid back the sum it thus owed and amended its records to prevent a repeat.
In the context of previous failings we have found by the Council regarding her children, I understand that Mrs X’s ability to tolerate further errors by the Council is limited. However, were we to investigate and find the same faults the Council has accepted, it is unlikely we would recommend more than the apology, the re-payment of any sums owed, and the change to the records that led to the error that the Council has already agreed.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because doing so would be unlikely to add to the Council’s own response to the complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman