The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not completing agreed recommendations from our previous decision. That is because the complaint is late.
The complaint
Ms X complained the Council about residential care the Council arranged for her late mother, Mrs Y. She said the Court of Protection found it did not meet Mrs Y’s needs. She also complained the Council had not complied with recommendations set out in a previous Ombudsman decision, and that it was wrongly pursuing her for care costs.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) The courts have said that where someone has sought a remedy by way of proceedings in any court of law, we cannot investigate. This is the case even if the appeal did not or could not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice claimed. (R v The Commissioner for Local Administration ex parte PH (1999) EHCA Civ 916)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We previously assessed Ms X’s complaint about residential care arranged by the Council. We issued a decision in November 2021, explaining could not investigate as the Court of Protection had been asked to decide where Mrs Y should live.
Ms X states she has new information setting out the injustice caused by that placement. However, we still cannot investigate this matter. That is because the law says we cannot investigate, even when the court did not provide a complete remedy for all the injustice caused.
We also previously issued a decision in September 2022 around top-up fees and care costs. Ms X said the Council has not complied with the recommendations in our final decision.
Ms X complained about this to the Ombudsman in 2025. Therefore, this complaint is late and we will not investigate. It was reasonable for Ms X to complain to us sooner. In addition, we were satisfied with the steps the Council took to complete the agreed recommendations.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because it is late.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman