Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about Mr X’s mother’s transfer to a care home in the Council’s area and her subsequent death after contracting COVID-19. There is not a good reason for the delay in the complaint being brought to the Ombudsman. In any event, we could not achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to respond properly to his questions about his mother's (Mrs Y’s) move in 2019 to a care home in its area. He said the Council failed to explain:
• Why it was not involved in his mother's transfer into its area; and
• Why a request was made in November 2020 for Continuing Healthcare funding, who the social worker was, and what their role was.
2. Mr X said this meant he could not establish whether the move of accommodation was lawful, and said his mother suffered due to actions of the Council’s safeguarding team. He wanted the Council to provide answers and publish information about the COVID-19 outbreak at the care home.

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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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• 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 and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mrs Y passed away in early 2022. Mr X made a complaint to the Council as he considered it responsible for his mother’s death after she had moved to its area. The Council responded in February 2022, and again in March 2022, signposting Mr X to the Ombudsman if he remained dissatisfied.
8. Mr X wrote to the Council again in early 2023, posing further questions about its earlier response. The Council responded to those questions in April 2023, and reiterated Mr X should contact us if he remained dissatisfied.
9. Mr X responded to the Council asking it:
• Why it was not involved in his mother's transfer into its area; and
• Why a request was made in November 2020 for Continuing Healthcare funding, who the social worker was, and what their role was.
10. The Council responded in May 2023. It said it could not answer the first question, because it was not the funding authority and as such another council was responsible for the move of accommodation. It signposted Mr X to that Council. It said, in relation to the second question, it had not made the Continuing Healthcare referral. It gave the name of the social worker, explaining they were involved to carry out a joint assessment for the purposes of determining whether Mrs Y was eligible for Continuing Healthcare Funding.
11. Mr X may disagree with the Council’s explanations, but this does not mean they are wrong. There is no evidence of fault in the Council’s response.
12. This response to Mr X, which is the issue he has brought to us, was issued 12 months and two weeks before he complained to us. The law says people must bring complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. Even though Mr X’s escalation to us was only slightly later than this, we must start with an assumption not to investigate, unless there are good reasons for the delay.
13. There is no evident reason for the delay between May 2023 and May 2024. The Council’s responses were prompt and it signposted Mr X to us several times. If he was dissatisfied with the Council’s response, he could have contacted us in May 2023. We will not exercise discretion to investigate this late complaint now, and in any event, we could not achieve anything further given that the Council responded to the two questions and there is no evidence of fault in that response.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay in him complaining to the Ombudsman, and we could not achieve anything more by investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman