Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to place a legal charge against his late parent’s property. This is because it is not in our jurisdiction to do so and we previously considered his complaint. Mr X’s complaint is also late.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s decision to place a legal charge against his late parent’s property to recover fees for the care they required. Mr X said the Council should have considered other means of obtaining funding for his parent’s care. Mr X said it caused him distress and frustration as he has not been able to sell the property. He wants the Council to acknowledge it acted with fault and to apologise to him. He also wants the Council to remove the legal charge, provide him with a financial remedy for the injustice caused and make service improvements to prevent a recurrence of fault.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
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 Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. We cannot reconsider complaints via a new complaint. We previously considered a complaint from Mr X in 2021 about similar matters. As part of our response, we told Mr X the courts would be better placed to consider his matter. Since then, Mr X has taken legal action via the courts therefore paragraph three of this statement applies. We cannot investigate his complaint further as it is not in our jurisdiction to do so.
7. We also explained to Mr X we would not investigate his complaint further as his complaint was late. This was because Mr X was aware in 2006-2007 that the Council had placed a legal charge against the property. We did not consider Mr X had good reasons why he did not complain to us sooner. Our decision remains the same.

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Final decision

8. We cannot investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is not in our jurisdiction to do so and we previously considered his complaint. Mr X’s complaint is also late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman