Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about a social worker’s handling of her brother’s case and that the social worker had misled her into thinking the Council would pursue legal action through the court of protection. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about a social worker’s handling of her brother’s case. She says the social worker misled them into thinking they would pursue legal action through the court of protection for the Council to be appointed to look after her brother’s finances.

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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 there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mrs X complains about her brother’s social worker making false promises about taking the issues to the court of protection for a decision to be made about who will manage her brother’s finances. However, as these are matters that happened in 2023, these are issues that happened more than 12 months ago.
7. I do not consider there are any good reasons to exercise discretion to consider this late complaint as it was reasonable for Mrs X to have complained to us about the matter earlier.
8. Even if we were to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint, we would not investigate. This is because there are not worthwhile outcomes achievable.
9. Mrs X’s main concern is around who should mange her brother’s finances. She has stated she was interested in applying to be her brother’s financial deputy.
10. The Council confirmed the family began private legal proceedings with the court of protection. Mrs X confirmed she was aware of the legal action and was present during court proceedings. Therefore, if she was unhappy, or had any concerns about the family members that had applied to be her brother’s deputy, she could have made representations to the court.
11. Finally, the court has decided who will manage her brother’s finances and an investigation by us cannot overturn this decision.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman