Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s actions when involved with Mrs Y’s finances. Mrs Y and
Mr X, her son, could have complained sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council did not act properly when Mrs Y, his mother, regained capacity regarding her finances. He says this caused £6,000 of Mrs Y’s pension to be spent on things she did not want to pay for. Mrs Y was distressed and alarmed about three years’ income not having gone into her bank account. Mr X wants the Council to repay their legal costs, refund for bills that were wrongly paid, and compensate for the distress and hardship caused.

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

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My assessment

5. The courts have been involved in relation to Mrs Y’s finances for several years. Mr X disputed capacity assessments that found she lacked capacity, and this led to her being found to have capacity in relation to her finances.
6. Mr X made a formal complaint about how the Council dealt with the matter. The Council responded to the complaint and signposted Mr X to the Ombudsman at the end of 2021 when the complaints process was exhausted.
7. When someone complains more than 12 months after becoming aware of the matter, the starting assumption is that we will not investigate the complaint. However, where there are good reasons for the delay, we can use discretion to investigate. There is not a good reason for the further year’s delay in Mr X bringing this complaint to us. We could not now conduct as fair an investigation as we could have had he complained immediately after the Council providing our details.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s late complaint because he could have complained sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman