Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about lack of support from the Council. There is not a good reason for the delay in Mrs X bringing the complaint to the Ombudsman.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide sufficient support to her as a shared lives carer. She says it wrongly raised safeguarding concerns. She says the issues have caused significant distress for the family and impacted them financially, as well as causing them to go to time and trouble to resolve the issues. Mrs X wants the Council to apologise, reinstate the correct level of support for them as carers and refund them for support they provided for free. She wants it to make service improvements.

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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 law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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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. Mrs X is a shared lives carer. She complained between 2017 and 2020 about lack of support relating to an adult she cares for. The Council sent a final complaint response at the end of 2020.
7. The law says people should bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. Mrs X started complaining in 2017. Mrs X has explained the delay in bringing this complaint to the Ombudsman was due to several things including her caring role and stress. However, there is not sufficient reasoning for the two-year delay following the final complaint response, and in any event the 12-month period would begin when she became aware of the matter which is 2017 at the latest. We could not now carry out a fair investigation.
8. Any complaints about current arrangements relating to adults Mrs X cares for should firstly be raised via the Council’s complaints process. It is open to Mrs X to then bring her complaint to the Ombudsman, in any event within a year of becoming aware if issues.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in bringing it to the Ombudsman.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman