Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an alledged failure by the Council in 2018 to provide the complainant with home adaptations and equipment. The complainant says these were essential to meeting her health needs. There is no practical prospect that we would be able to investigate the allegations given the allegations made are historical.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Ms Q) complains about the Council’s handling of her request for home adaptions and equipment to meet her assessed health needs. Ms Q alleges the Council wrongly declined her request in 2018 for adaptions despite it assessing her as requiring facilities not available within her existing property.
2. In summary, Ms Q says the failure to provide adaptions in accordance with her assessed need resulted in her basic needs, including washing and bathing, not being met. In turn, she said this had a significant and adverse impact on her mental and emotional wellbeing. As a desired outcome, Ms Q wants the Council to take responsibility for the way she has been treated, make improvements to its service and pay an amount of compensation to acknowledge the impact caused.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended).
4. 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).

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The legal restriction I outline at paragraph four (above) inserts a time limit for a member of the public to bring their complaint to the attention of the Ombudsman. Its intention is two-fold: to provide us with the best opportunity of arriving at a robust, evidence-based decision on complaints about recent events and to ensure fairness by enabling us to decline an investigation into historic matters, which could and should have formed the basis of a complaint to us far sooner.
7. The complaint concerns events and decisions made by the Council seven years ago in 2018. The complaint is therefore late and historical and it is not the role of the Ombudsman to investigate historical matters. I recognise the points made by Ms Q that her health prevented her from complaining to us sooner. However, this does not mean there are good reasons to investigate despite the amount of time which has passed since the issues arose. Considering the amount of time which passed since the issues arose, my view is that:
1. There would be difficulties in establishing the material facts with reasonable confidence and gathering sufficient evidence to reach a sound judgement.
2. We cannot apply current standards, guidance, or professional expectations to historical situations. It is therefore likely to be more difficult to reach a firm and fair conclusion on whether there was maladministration in Ms Q’s case.
3. It is likely to be more difficult to achieve a meaningful remedy in Ms Q’s case, given the length of time that has already passed, the difficulty in establishing causality over longer time periods, and changes in the situation of the parties.
8. For these reasons, even were we to accept the reasons provided by Ms Q as being a good reason for us to exercise our discretion and investigate, I do not consider there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision relating to Ms Q’s historical allegations.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there is no practical prospect that we would be able to investigate the allegations given the allegations made are historical.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman