London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (21 000 446)
Category : Adult care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 03 Jun 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the complainant was unfairly banned from a day centre. This is because the complaint is late and there is no good reason why it could not have been made sooner.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will refer to as Mr C, complains that he was unfairly banned from a day centre for fighting.
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 Mr C’s complaint and the responses from the day centre and the Council. I sent a draft version of this decision to Mr C and invited his comments.
What I found
- Mr C attended a day centre. In October 2019, Mr C was involved in an altercation with another service user at the day centre which escalated to a fight. This resulted in the police and ambulance service being called.
- The day centre wrote to Mr C to inform him that he, and the other person involved, had both been banned from the centre for one year. Mr C appealed, but the centre upheld the ban.
- Records show that whilst Mr C contacted the Council to inform it of the ban, no complaint was raised until January 2021. Mr C said the ban was unfair and that the day centre staff had not done enough to support him prior to the incident.
Assessment
- I will not investigate Mr C’s complaint about being banned from a day centre. This is because the events happened too long ago. He was banned in October 2019 but did not complain to the Council until January 2021. I see no reason why he could not have raised his concerns sooner. Mr C says he did complain sooner, but I have seen no evidence to support this.
Final decision
- I will not investigate this complaint. This is because the events happened too long ago and I see no reason why Mr C could not have complained sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman