Nottinghamshire County Council (22 005 371)
Category : Adult care services > Charging
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 23 Aug 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council has completed a financial assessment. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the complaint.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the way the Council has completed a financial assessment for his mother. He says the Council wrongly decided to consider the full value of his mother’s property in its assessment and consequently, assessed her as being responsible for the full cost of her care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X’s sister originally dealt with the complaint with the Council.
- The Council issued its final complaint response in February 2021. This outlined the Council’s reasons for why it decided it could consider the full value of the Trust in the financial assessment.
- Mr X’s sister acknowledged the Council’s letter at the end of February 2021. She noted she was going to contact the Ombudsman and seek legal advice.
- Mr X did not make his complaint to us until August 2022. This is over 12 months since the Council issued its final complaint response.
- There are no good reasons for why Mr X could not bring the complaint to us earlier. This is especially given there is clear evidence Mr X’s sister was aware of us and indicated she would bring the complaint to us.
- Therefore, I will not investigate this complaint as it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the complaint.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman