The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the care of her friend, Mr Y. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to consider it now. Some newer matters, whilst also late, have not yet completed the Council’s complaints procedure and so I have not considered them as part of this complaint.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about the Council’s actions in relation to the care of Mr Y who died in June 2021. The matters complained about span from 2017 to 2021. Most of the complaints were raised and responded to between 2017 and 2019.
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 effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended) We may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by: their personal representative (if they have one), or someone we consider to be suitable. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
I sent the complainant a copy of my draft decision and considered her comments in response.
My assessment
Ms X complains about matters relating to Mr Y who sadly died in 2021. Ms X and Mr Y were friends. She is his executor.
Ms X made several complaints to the Council between 2017 and 2019 about its actions in relation to the management of Mr Y’s care.
The Council has provided copies of all the complaints it has received from Ms X since 2017 along with its responses.
The Council sent Ms X a final response letter in September 2019, which signposted her to the Ombudsman’s office if she remained dissatisfied with its responses. It also signposted her to this office in a 2018 complaint response.
Ms X also complains about events between 2020 to 2021 which do not appear to have been raised as formal complaints to the Council and have not completed the Council’s complaints procedure.
Ms X’s complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of a person first becoming aware of the matter. Most of the issues raised here relate to events between 2017 and 2019 and Ms X was clearly aware of them at the time. She was signposted to this office in 2018 and in 2019. Ms X said she did not complain to us sooner due to an ongoing inquiry by the CCG into Mr Y’s care in the final year of his life.
In response to my draft decision, Ms X provided new information explaining why she could not have complained to us from 2019 onwards.
I have considered and taken account of the further information Ms X provided but remain of the view there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now. This is because, due to the passage of time since the 2017 to 2019 events, it is unlikely we would be able to carry out a full and fair investigation of the issues raised and reach a reliable view on them now further to the responses provided via the Council’s investigation at the time.
I have not considered Ms X’s complaints about 2020 to 2021 events as there is no sign they have completed the Council’s complaints procedure. We are the final stage following the completion of the Council’s complaints procedure. We will not consider complaints where the Council has not had the opportunity to consider and respond to the matter via its own complaints procedure first.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman