Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council disallowing the complainant’s mother to leave her care own against her wishes. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion. We cannot investigate the complainant’s other concerns about alleged defamatory statements made against him during legal proceedings. This is because we have no legal jurisdiction to investigate what happens in a court of law.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Mr X) complains on behalf of his mother (Mrs Z) who lacks mental capacity and for whom he holds lasting power of attorney (LPA) for. He says the Council wrongly kept Mrs Z in a care home despite at the time she had capacity to make her own choices and that she expressly stated she wished to leave and return home. Mr X says this amounted to false imprisonment.
2. In addition, Mr X complains in his own right about harmful and defamatory comments made by the Council against him during the course of proceedings at the Court of Protection about his appropriateness to continue as LPA for Mrs Z.
3. In summary, Mr X says the alleged fault has negatively impacted on the stability of his mother. He also says the defamatory comments made against him caused him stress anxiety, as well as prejudice to his reputation. He wants the Council to carry out an investigation into the false imprisonment of Mrs Z, as well as those who defamed him. He also wants better training to be undertaken by Council officers and a written apology from those responsible for the alleged fault.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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).
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended).

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
7. The complainant now has an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.

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My assessment

8. We cannot by law investigate a complaint where the issues raised occurred over one year ago, unless there are good reasons for us to exercise our discretion. The matter of the alleged refusal by the Council to allow Mrs Z to leave her care home was first raised by Mr X in June 2022. It has therefore been two years since Mr X first became aware of the issues subject to the complaint. The complaint is therefore one year late. During this time, Mr X was raising issues with the Council and he has continued to do so to present date. In my view, there is no good reason why Mr X could not have raised the issues sooner. I will not therefore exercise my discretion and the restriction I outline at Paragraph 4 (above) applies.
9. With regard to comments made by officers of the Council about Mrs Z during proceedings at the Court of Protection, we have no legal jurisdiction to investigate. These statements were made during legal proceedings and we cannot investigate a matter which relates to the same. The restriction I outline at Paragraph 5 (above) applies and I have no discretion in this matter.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because part of the complaint concerning Mrs Z is late. With respect to matters about Mr X himself, we have no legal jurisdiction to investigate matters about what happened in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman