Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about charging for respite care. This is because the complainant is not a Suitable Representative for her mother-in-law. Additionally the complaint is made late so we would not investigate it if it was brought by a Suitable Representative.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mrs X, says that her mother-in-law’s family were not informed that she would have to pay for respite care at the day centre she attended, or invoiced in a timely manner, to alert them to the situation.

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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 may investigate a complaint on behalf of someone who has died or who cannot authorise someone to act for them. The complaint may be made by:

• their personal representative (if they have one), or
• someone we consider to be suitable.

4. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(2), as amended)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information provided by Mrs X and I have sent her a draft decision for her comments.

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What I found

7. Mrs X complains that when her mother-in-law, Mrs M, started to attend a day centre for respite care, her family were not informed in a timely manner that there would be charges for the care.
8. I will not investigate the complaint. This is for two main reasons.
9. Firstly, although we can accept a complaint from a representative on behalf of someone who is unable to provide consent, we have to decide whether they are a Suitable Representative.
10. In this case, Mrs M is unable to provide consent, but I will not accept Mrs X as a Suitable Representative for her. This is because Mrs X says there are three other people, Mrs M’s children, who hold Power of Attorney for Health and Welfare matters. One of them dealt with the contract when Mrs M began receiving respite care. Although this complaint is regarding a financial matter, I consider it would be more appropriate for one of the people that Mrs M nominated to hold a Power of Attorney, and who arranged the care, to act for her.
11. Secondly, we would not investigate the complaint even it brought by a Suitable Representative. This is because the events complained of date from 2018. The last communication from the Council is dated 2019, and no action has been taken by the family since a letter dated January 2020. We cannot investigate complaints about matters known to the complainant more than 12 months previously unless there are good reasons to set aside the bar. I have seen no good reasons to do so in this case.

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Final decision

12. I will not investigate this complaint. This is because I do not consider Mrs X a Suitable Representative, and the complaint is late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman