Summary: Ms B complained about decisions relating to her mother’s move to residential care in late 2020/early 2021. The complaint was made late and the investigation is discontinued.

The complaint

1. I refer to the complainant as Ms B. She made the complaint on behalf of her mother Ms X and in her own right. The complaint concerned decisions around her mother’s care and her move to residential care. Ms B considered the Council forced her to move her mother into residential care and that it then did not properly address the basis on which her mother was resident in the care home. Ms B did not want her mother to go into residential care and believes there could have been alternatives such as 24 hour care at home. She considered that because of the time her mother has spent in care she would not now be able to return home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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 injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the complaint and documents provided by Ms B and spoke to her. Ms B and the organisation had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Summary of the key events

6. Ms X was living at home with a package of care. Her husband died in the summer of 2020 and Ms X was becoming increasingly distressed when she was on her own. By the end of 2020 the Council considered that Ms X needed to be in residential care. Ms B disagreed but in February 2021 Ms X moved into a residential care home.
7. Ms X’s stay in the care home remained on a respite basis. But in early 2023 the Council decided she needed to be considered as a permanent resident. That meant there needed to be a financial assessment of Ms X to decide what contribution she needed to make to her care. In April she became liable for the full-cost of her care.

Analysis

8. Ms B believes it would have been possible for her mother to receive 24-hour a day care at home rather than move to residential care in early 2021.
9. We expect people to make a complaint to us within a year of them knowing of the event about which they are complaining. The discussions and move to residential care happened over the end of 2020 into early 2021. Ms B was very unhappy about the events. The possibility of 24-hour care at home was discussed not long after Ms X moved into residential care and was being considered from April 2021 onwards. It would, therefore, have been possible for Ms B to have made a complaint to us much sooner about the actions relating to the move to residential care in late 2020/early 2021.
10. Ms B also raised concerns about the basis of her mother’s residence at the care home, when that should have become permanent and the records held about it. I have decided not to investigate these points further. It did not have any adverse consequence for Ms B or her mother. Over 2021, 2022 and 2023 Ms X moving home was anticipated but it was dependent on Ms B putting in place the necessary arrangements. That was not affected by the basis of Ms X’s residence. Nor was there any financial detriment to Ms X.

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Final decision

11. I have discontinued our investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman