Kent County Council (23 002 120)
Category : Adult care services > Other
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 06 Jun 2023
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s alleged failure to provide Mrs X with several night’s paid respite. This is because the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate matters that took place this long ago.
The complaint
- Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her with 17 night’s paid respite leave due to her since October 2020. She said this matter has affected her mental health.
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 information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council runs a shared lives scheme which allows people with different needs to be cared for in the homes of a chosen carer.
- Mrs X complained to the Council that she had been requesting payment for 24 night’s respite care due to her since October 2020, in line with her contract with the Council as a shared lives host. She said she had been unable to take the respite leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Council did not uphold Mrs X’s complaint, stating that it had never agreed to provide her with this respite leave and it had already provided her with £16,000 to cover the loss of provision experienced during the pandemic.
- Mrs X wants us to find the Council at fault for failing to uphold her complaint. The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which concern events that took place more than 12 months ago. Mrs X says she has been contacting the Council about this matter since 2020. It therefore would have been reasonable for her to refer this complaint to us much sooner.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because this complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate matters that took place this long ago.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman