The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s decision to stop funding Mr Y’s transport to and from a day centre in 2019. There is not a good reason Ms X did not complain to us sooner.
The complaint
Ms X complained the Council stopped funding her brother’s (Mr Y’s) transport to and from a day centre in 2019 without reassessment or good reason. The transport was initially put in place to safeguard Mr Y. The Council refused to consider Ms X’s complaint and has ignored her emails. Mr Y had attended the day centre for 15 years before this, and has showed signs of distress since transport was stopped. Ms X wants the Council to reinstate funding and apologise.
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 Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council stopped providing Mr Y’s transport to and from a day centre in 2019. Ms X made a formal complaint, and the Council provided a final response in 2019 which told Ms X the next step, should she remain unhappy with the outcome, was to contact the Ombudsman.
Ms X complained again to the Council in 2020 as there were elements of her complaint she did not feel had been addressed. The Council provided another final response, again signposting her to the Ombudsman.
We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the event they complain about, in this case the Council’s decision around June 2019. Ms X contacted us in May 2022, nearly two years after the Council’s final response and nearly three years after her first complaint to it. She has not provided a good reason for the delay in complaining to us.
In the event that there has been a change in Mr Y’s circumstances, it is open to Ms X to ask the Council to assess his needs for transport now and if she believes it is at fault in how it deals with that request, it is open to her to make a new complaint to the Council and then us about more recent events.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason she did not complain to us sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman