Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X being overcharged for his care, the issues with a lift, or the delays in servicing his disability equipment. This is either because part of his complaint is late, there is no fault by the Council, or the Council has not had a chance to consider it under its complaint’s procedure.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains that he was overcharged for his care, that there are power issues with his lift, and that his disability equipment was not serviced on time.

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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 there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X says the Council overcharged him for his care between April 2021 and April 2022. He says he called every three months and transferred the amount due. He knew the charges, and he should have raised any concerns sooner if he believed the payments were higher than usual.
9. I will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. His concerns relate to events more than 12 months old, and I see no good reason for the delay in approaching the Ombudsman.
10. Mr X says the Council should remove debris outside the lift. The Council confirms it has done this. He also wants the Council to fix a power‑supply fault in the lift. The Council offered him a date for the repair, but he did not get in touch with the Council. I will not investigate these elements of Mr X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify our involvement.
11. Mr X wants the Council to remove the old lift. He has not complained to the Council about this. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless the organisation knows about it and has had a chance to respond.
12. Mr X wants the Council to service his hoist. The service is due was November 2025. He has not complained to the Council about this issue either. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless the organisation knows about it and has had an opportunity to reply.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because his complaint is late, there is no fault by the Council, or the Council has not had a chance to deal with it

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman