Decision Report 201405308

Summary

Mr C complained that the Office of the Public Guardian (Scotland) (the OPG) dealt with his complaint inadequately. Mr C said there was a delay in the OPG dealing with his enquiry, that they got a relative's name wrong throughout the complaint, and that they did not answer specific questions he asked.

We looked at the OPG's file on Mr C's complaint, and asked for their comments. The OPG explained, as they had done to Mr C, that their involvement in a guardianship case ends with the death of the adult and the discharge of the guardian. In Mr C's case, both of these events happened some time before he contacted them. Despite this, in an effort to be helpful, the OPG responded to Mr C's enquiry, doing so after a summary review of the relevant case file. In their response, they explained to Mr C that they were only carrying out a summary review, although Mr C was not satisfied with this. They also apologised for getting the relative's name wrong, and for the delay in responding to Mr C.

We found that the OPG had dealt with Mr C's complaint reasonably, as although Mr C was unhappy with the summary response, this was more than they were required to provide given the time that had passed since their involvement in guardianship matters had come to an end. Therefore, we did not uphold Mr C's complaint.