Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council revoking its agreement to pay for Mrs Y’s care. There is not a good reason for the delay in the matter being brought to the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained, via an advocate, the Council commissioned care for her mother (Mrs Y) then revoked it. She said she subsequently received an invoice from Mrs Y’s care provider for £54,000. Mrs X says the Council should admit fault in administering an incorrect contract and take responsibility for the £54,000 debt.

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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)
3. 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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants.

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

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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 issued a contract in early 2022, indicating it would pay for Mrs Y’s residential care. It then revoked this, and advised Mrs X in November 2022 Mrs Y would need to pay the full cost of her care due to having sufficient assets and capital. Mrs Y’s arrears for her care were £54,000, and Mrs X contacted a support agency to assist her in challenging the matter.
7. Mrs X’s advocate requested information from the Council and received its response in March 2023. The advocate submitted a complaint to the Council in June 2023. The Council issued three complaint responses then signposted the advocate to the Ombudsman in December 2023.

Time limits for complaining to the Ombudsman

8. The law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter unless there are good reasons. There was some initial delay in making the complaint to the Council, and the Council’s complaint response of December 2023 was then issued slightly outside of the 12 month time limit.
9. The complaint could have been brought to us at the end of 2023, at which time we likely would have exercised discretion to investigate the late complaint due to the advocate having had to chase the Council several times.
10. However, instead of bringing the matter to the Ombudsman, the advocate contacted the Council to discuss the matter further, leading to two further complaint responses reiterating the complainants’ right to escalate the matter to the Ombudsman. The advocate ultimately brought the matter to us in July 2024.
11. There is not a good reason for the delay in the matter being brought to us and so we will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint.

Our role in considering injustice and remedies

12. In any event, if we decided to investigate this complaint, we would not decide the Council’s actions had caused a £54,000 injustice.
13. When we consider recommendations to remedy injustice caused to a complainant, we consider what would have happened but for any fault. But for the alleged fault, Mrs Y would still have paid £54,000 to the Care Provider. She owned a property and had capital over the maximum threshold for financial assessment, and there does not appear to be any contention over the decision Mrs Y should have been assessed as a full cost-payer.
14. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to place complainants at an advantage due to fault by organisations. We must consider the implications for the public purse when considering remedies that would effectively waive or reduce charges for care that are rightly owed. We would not therefore achieve the outcome Mrs X seeks from complaining, even if the complaint were not late.

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Final decision

15. We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in bringing the matter to the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman