Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a financial assessment for care costs. This is because it is late and there are no good reasons why the complainant could not have come to us sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council mishandled a financial assessment for care costs for his parents.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says he disagrees with the Council’s financial assessment for his parents’ care costs. He disputes the Council’s decision about finances and says his father gifted him money. The Council has classed this gift of money as deprivation of assets and Mr X says the Council is pursuing him for the outstanding balance for care costs.
6. The complaint is late and the financial assessment was carried out no later than December 2023. The Council advised Mr X he could contact the Ombudsman in its complaint response in September 2024, which itself is more than twelve months before he did. It is reasonable to expect Mr X to have complained to us sooner and there are no good reasons for us to investigate matters now.
7. Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his complaint. It is not a good use of our resources to investigate how a Council has handled a complaint if the substantive matter does not fall to be investigated. That is the case here.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman