Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council holding him responsible for his late relative’s care charges. This is because the complaint has been made late and there are no good reasons for investigating.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the Council's handling of his late relative’s residential care charges. Mr X says the Council did not notify him promptly about outstanding care fees and only pursued the debt more than eight months after his relative died. Mr X seeks a debt write-off.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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

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

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My assessment

6. The Council investigated Mr X’s complaint and did not uphold it.
7. The Council says repeated attempts were made to contact another person in Mr X’s family in 2022 and 2023 including letters, emails, telephone messages and reminders. The Council said it could not issue an accurate bill until the financial assessment process was completed and says the delays arose because it did not receive the required information. It also explained the arrangements for charging residential care and said the debt was subsequently reduced from £29,603.47 to £12,303.16 following completion of a financial assessment.

8. We will not investigate. The Ombudsman expects complaints to be raised to us within 12 months of the person becoming aware of the matters complained about. The information shows Mr X was aware of the matters he complains about by, at the latest, February/March 2024 when he received correspondence concerning the outstanding care charges and wrote to the Council disputing liability and the delay in notification. However, he did not bring his complaint to the Ombudsman until August 2026, more than two years after becoming aware of the issues surrounding the care fees.
9. I do not consider there are good reasons to set aside the time restriction on the Ombudsman’s powers so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons for investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman