Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to conduct care assessments. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now. We will not investigate the rest of the complaint as there is insufficient injustice to warrant further investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to carry out appropriate assessments for her father, Mr Y, when he was in a care home.
2. She says this meant her father did not receive the level of care he needed. This has left the family distressed and wondering if more assessments would have affected when Mr Y passed away and whether his care was funded or not.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
5. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement.

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

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

My assessment

8. Mrs X complains the Council failed to carry out assessments of Mr Y between June and November 2024 while he was in a care home, despite him having a degenerative illness.
9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint as it is late. Mrs X came to us in early November 2025 as such the period from June until early November is more than 12 months ago and is considered late. Mrs X would have been aware of whether there had been assessments. As such there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider this late complaint.
10. We will not consider Mrs X’s remaining complaint about the three week period which is not considered late as there is insufficient evidence of injustice to warrant further investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because part of the complaint it is late and there is no good reason to investigate it now and there is insufficient injustice for the remaining period to warrant further investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman