The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the delay in Mr X’s request for an Occupational Therapy assessment and a Housing Needs report. This is because we cannot add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council failed to act on an urgent Occupational Therapy referral. Mr X is physically disabled, his son has severe mental health issues, and they remain in unsafe housing. Mr X says the delay has blocked urgent housing support.
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; or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The Council has fully investigated Mr X’s concerns about the request for an Occupational Health assessment and Housing Needs report.
The Council accepted that the original Occupational Therapy assessment request was sent to the incorrect team and apologised for this. The request has been backdated so that Mr X is not impacted by the delay. The Council has reviewed its process to ensure this does not happen again. This is an appropriate response, so further investigation into this point would not lead to a different outcome.
Finally, I will not investigate how the Council dealt with Mr X’s complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot add to the investigation already carried out by the Council or achieve a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman