The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care. This is because it is a late complaint. The issues were known about more than 12 months ago and there is no good reason they could not have been pursued sooner.
The complaint
Ms B says the Council failed to follow the correct process. Ms B says the Council: failed to involve relevant people in her mother, Ms C’s, care needs assessment.
Failed to share a copy of the assessment at the relevant time.
Failed to properly communicate with Ms C and her family.
Ms B says because they did not know the Council had completed a care needs assessment, they did not know Ms C was then responsible for her care charges. They found out from the Care Provider around six months later and then received a large and unexpected bill for that period. Ms B says had they known they might have made different choices about Ms C’s care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) Ms B is the personal representative of Ms C’s estate.
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 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: any fault has not caused significant enough injustice to the person who complained to justify our involvement, or 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.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The complaint is about a care needs assessment the Council completed in April 2021, which Ms B found out about in October 2021. Ms B says they could not pursue the complaint sooner because of the deaths of both parents in late 2021 and early 2022. I accept this would impact Ms B’s ability to pursue a complaint. Ms B contacted the Council about the matter in November 2022, so by that time could pursue, but did not then come to the Ombudsman until more than 12 months after that. This is a late complaint in accordance with paragraph five.
Even if we exercised discretion to consider this late complaint, I do not consider it would warrant an Ombudsman investigation. The Council accepts it failed to send the outcome of the assessment and failed to communicate the change in funding at the relevant time. The Council has apologised for its errors. It is unlikely an Ombudsman investigation would add to the Council’s findings or reach a different outcome.
The Ombudsman could achieve no personal remedy for any impact on Ms C caused by the Council’s failings. There is not significant enough impact on Ms B to warrant an Ombudsman investigation, and no evidence of a wider public interest.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because it is a late complaint. Even if the complaint was not late, we would not investigate because it is unlikely we would add to the Council’s investigation or achieve a different outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman