The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the failure to conduct a parent carer’s needs assessment. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. There is nothing that we could usefully add to the Council’s response which upholds and remedies the complaint.
The complaint
The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr F, says that the Council has not provided him with a parent carer’s needs assessment. He says it is needed as part of a Children’s CHC assessment.
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. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by Mr F.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr F’s complaint because the Council has upheld it. It has apologised for the glitch in its system, and has undertaken to provide the assessment and to monitor its on-line facility. There is nothing we could add to the outcome of its investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman