Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the actions of the Council adult social care department. Charging matters are historic, and there is no good reason to consider them now. Where we are not investigating matters, there is no good reason to consider how the Council dealt with a complaint about it. And there is no evidence the Council has had the opportunity to deal with a complaint about a care assessment.

The complaint

1. Ms X said the Council had failed to deal with a complaint about a care assessment she said she was still waiting for.
2. She also said there were care charges outstanding since 2022.
3. She also said the Council had failed to provide her with an advocate or make reasonable adjustments for her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

5. 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)
6. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Although Ms X said she had complained to the Council in June 2025, she did not provide any evidence to support this. The complaint correspondence the Council sent us related to a housing matter we have previously referred to the Housing Ombudsman.
10. The issue of care charges is more than three years old, and there is no evidence Ms X has only recently become aware of it. There is thus no good reason to exercise discretion to consider this late matter.
11. How the Council dealt with Ms X as a complainant is not related to a matter we are investigating. It would not be a good use of public resources to investigate this matter on its own.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because:

• There is no evidence that the Council has had an opportunity to deal with a complaint about a care assessment;
• There is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate a late complaint about care charges; and
• It is not a good use of public resources to consider the Council’s complaint handling alone where we are not investigating any other matter.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman