London Borough of Newham (21 010 753)
Category : Adult care services > Domiciliary care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 11 Feb 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint relating to the domiciliary care package her father received leading up to his death in 2018. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this late complaint now.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about matters relating to the domiciliary care package her father, Mr Y, received leading up to his death in July 2018.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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, via her representative, and by the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I sent the complainant a copy of my draft decision and invited her comments on it.
My assessment
- Mrs X complained to the Council about matters relating to Mr Y’s domiciliary care package, his care review in early 2018 and carers failing to raise the alarm following Mr Y’s death.
- The Council sent its final complaint response to Mrs X in August 2019. This letter clearly signposted Mrs X to the Ombudsman should she remain dissatisfied with its response.
Final decision
- We will not investigate this complaint. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. Several years have now passed since the events complained about. Mrs X was clearly signposted to us by the Council back in 2019 and I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now. Further to this, given the passage of time, it is unlikely we would now be able to reach a fair and reliable view on the matters raised further to that already provided by the Council’s investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman