Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s mental health team closing Mr Y’s case. There is not a good reason Mrs X did not complain sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council’s mental health team closed her son, Mr Y’s, case in late 2020 because he no longer fit its criteria. The Council wrongly said there is no record of Mr Y’s depression since he was a teenager, despite significant events having taken place. This has caused Mr Y and Mrs X significant stress. Mrs X wants the Council to amend its records for accuracy, so that any future decisions about criteria can be made based on the correct information.

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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)
3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or there is another body better placed to consider the complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council’s mental health team closed Mr Y’s case in November 2020. Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council in February 2021 and the Council issued a final complaint response in April 2021. Mrs X then complained to us in January 2022.
7. We normally expect complaints to be made to us within 12 months of the issue, however when there are good reasons for the delay we can exercise discretion to investigate. Mrs X complained to us 14 months after the mental health team closed Mr Y’s case. I have considered Mrs X’s explanation of the timescales, in particular the impact of complaining on her mental health. However, there is not sufficient reasoning to explain a total 12 months during which Mrs X took no action to progress her complaint. There is not a good reason Mrs X did not complain to us in April 2021.
8. However, in any event, the Council having closed Mr Y’s case does not mean he could not seek this support again in future. It would be for the Council to consider the circumstances at that time and decide whether to open Mr Y’s case and provide the relevant service. We cannot consider hypothetical or future injustice.
9. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the organisation best placed to consider requests for information to be amended for accuracy. It is open to Mrs X to contact the ICO about her concern the Council’s records are inaccurate.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason she did not complain to us sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman