Peterborough City Council (25 014 716)
Category : Adult care services > Domiciliary care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Mar 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about adult social care at home. This is because the complaint is late. It is also unlikely we would add to the Council’s investigation and remedy given.
The complaint
- Ms B said the Council repeatedly failed to provide adequate adult social care at home for her relative, Mr C, starting in January 2022. This put Mr C at risk, and caused stress to Ms B who felt the Council was not listening or acting on the concerns. Ms B wants the Council to apologise for the lack of empathy, support and proper care.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), 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
- We expect complainants to raise concerns with us within 12 months of being aware of the matter. The Council’s complaint response covers issues up to May 2024, which is over 12 months before Ms B raised the complaint with the Ombudsman. The Council delayed its complaint response, giving its final response in May 2025. But I can see no good reason why Ms B could not have complained to us sooner. It took a further five months from the Council’s final response.
- Even if we decided to exercise discretion and consider the late complaint, I do not consider we would add to the Council’s complaint response. The Council accepted fault, apologised for the impact of the fault, and waived over £4700 of adult social care fees.
- Ms B seeks an apology, but it would not be a good use of our resource to investigate solely to achieve that. And in any event, the Council apologised in its final complaint response.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Ms B’s complaint because it is a late complaint and it is unlikely we would add to the Council’s investigation and complaint response.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman