Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with his mother’s care. Other bodies are better placed to consider Mr X’s concerns about the Council’s corporate appointeeship for his mother. Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s interaction with him is late and there are no good reasons exercise discretion to accept this late complaint now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council’s corporate appointeeship to manage his mother’s benefit payments and his interaction with the Social Worker assigned to his mother. He believes the Social Worker’s behaviour towards him led to his unfair exclusion from discussions about his mother’s care. He wants the Council to reallocate his mother’s case to another Social Worker.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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)
4. 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:

• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.

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My assessment

6. Mr X first complained to the Council in Spring 2023 about how the Social Worker allocated to his mother had interacted with him since 2022. This included a complaint about the Council’s corporate appointeeship with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to manage his mother’s benefit payments. The Council also explained why it would not be reallocating his mother’s case to another Social Worker. The Council’s stage two complaint response to Mr X in June 2023, provided details of how he could escalate his complaint to the Ombudsman if he remained dissatisfied.
7. The Council has explained how Mr X can challenge its best interest’s decision that his mother lacks capacity with the Court of Protection. Mr X would need to challenge the Council’s corporate appointeeship for his mother with the DWP directly. These other bodies are better placed to consider these issues, so we will not investigate them further.
8. The rest of Mr X’s complaints about his interaction with his mother’s Social Worker are late. Mr X has been aware of these matters since 2022. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Any issues Mr X continues to have about the Council’s handling that occurred more than 12 months before him bringing his complaint to us are now late.
9. The Ombudsman can exercise discretion to consider late complaints if there is a good reason to do so. I have not enquired whether there is a good reason in this case, because even if we investigated it is unlikely we could achieve the outcome Mr X wants - to have another Social Worker assigned to his mother’s case. We have no powers to insist the Council takes such action.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because other bodies are better placed to consider some of his concerns and the remainder of his complaint is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman