Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the fees for an appointee service the Council commissioned for Mrs X’s father. This is because there is not a good reason for the delay in complaining to the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained neither the Council nor the appointee service it commissioned told the family when a charge became payable for her father’s appointeeship. She does not feel the Council and the appointee service are working in the best interests of vulnerable adults. This caused Mrs X anger on finding £2,700 of fees had been taken from her father when he died.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the information Mrs X provided when she complained to us.
4. I considered Mrs X’s comments on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs X’s father, Mr Y, began receiving an appointee service in 2013 from an organisation the Council commissions. This was to manage his finances, as he could not manage them himself due to dementia. This service is means-tested, so service users only have to pay if their savings are above £10,000. In 2015, Mr Y’s savings increased over this threshold, so the service started charging.
6. Mrs X says she was not aware this charge had been introduced until after her father’s death, when she was acting as the executor of his will. She says the family had not been told in 2015 when the charge was introduced, despite being fully involved and in contact with the service.
7. The information Mrs X has provided shows her father’s death was around 2018 and she was already discussing this issue with the service in January 2019. She brought her complaint to the Ombudsman in September 2020.
8. We cannot investigate complaints brought more than 12 months after events, unless we decide there are good reasons. The relevant date I have considered this 12 month period to begin is January 2019, as I am satisfied Mrs X knew about the issue she complains about then. I have accounted for two months she could not have complained between April and June 2020 due to the Ombudsman pausing taking new complaints due to COVID-19. However, Mrs X has not provided any reason for the remainder of the 20-month period between January 2019 and September 2020. There is not a good reason we should exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this late complaint. This is because Mrs X has not provided a good reason for the delay in bringing it to the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman