The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about charges for her mother’s residential care. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons why it could not have been brought to us sooner.
The complaint
Mrs X complains the Council has charged for her mother’s residential care, despite telling her there would be no charges. She wants the Council to waive the outstanding charges her mother owes.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complained to the Council about care charges for her mother in 2023. Mrs X’s mother was discharged from hospital into residential care in 2022. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint in July 2023. It apologised it did not give Mrs X and her mother sufficient information about care charges when it completed a financial assessment. It waived part of the care charges in recognition of its fault. The Council’s complaint response included information about Mrs X could escalate her complaint to us if she remained dissatisfied.
We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Mrs X has been aware of these issues since late 2022. Any concerns Mrs X continues to have about the Council’s handling that occurred more than 12 months prior to her bringing her complaint to us are now late. I have seen no good reasons why Mrs X could not have brought her concerns to us sooner, so I will not exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint now.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late. There are no good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate this complaint now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman