Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council managed Ms Y’s finances when it was her deputy and its failure to properly consider Ms X’s concerns about another family member. Parts of the complaint are late and there is not a good reason for the delay in complaining. We could not achieve a meaningful outcome for Ms X in respect of the other matters.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about the Council's actions at the end of her mother's (Ms Y’s) life. Her complaints include that the Council:
1. disregarded what Ms X told them about another family member’s misuse of
   Ms Y's finances, and Ms Y's health and wellbeing;
2. blocked her Power of Attorney application and applied to the Court of Protection for deputyship against the family's wishes and without giving them information;
3. withheld information from Ms X about Ms Y's finances, and was rude and unhelpful; and
4. did not take good care of Ms Y's assets and enabled the other family member to wrongly obtain money from Ms Y.
2. Ms X says these matters have led to over £1,400 of Ms Y's finances being wrongly sent to the other family member. She wants the Council to refund this to Ms Y's estate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. The law says people should bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. Parts a, b and c of the complaint are now too late for us to consider. Ms X knew about these matters at the time and there is not a good reason for the delay in complaining to us.
8. I have considered part d of the complaint. Ms Y’s concerns are about how the Council managed Ms Y’s assets while it acted as court-appointed deputy. While the events happened more than 12 months before Ms X complained to the Ombudsman, I have exercised discretion in this respect. This is because Ms X was not aware of this matter until more recently, when she was able to obtain records as executor of Ms Y’s estate.
9. Ms X alleges the Council wrongly allowed another family member, about whom she had previously raised concerns, to obtain over £1,400 of Ms Y’s money. She says the Council failed to recognise that receipts the family member provided would evidence the purchases could not have been for Ms Y.
10. We could not say what the money was used for, and we could not come to conclusions about any fraud or theft by the family member, which are matters for the police. If the family member wrongly obtained money, as Ms X alleges, then it would ultimately be the family member who caused any financial detriment to
    Ms Y’s estate. It is open to Ms X to raise the matter with the police.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because parts of it are now too late, and we could not achieve a meaningful outcome for the part which is in time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman