Summary: Mrs F complained on behalf of her daughter about the quality of her supported living care between 2019 and October 2022. I have ended our investigation as the complaint is late and it would have been reasonable for the complaint to have been made sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs F complained on behalf of her daughter, Ms J, that the quality of her supported living care between 2019 and October 2022 was poor.
2. Mrs F says inadequate support caused severe distress to Ms J, resulting in her mental collapse. It also caused distress to the whole family as they were left with no alternative but to take Ms J to live with them and engage a solicitor to persuade the Council to agree to a move to a new placement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I spoke to Mrs F about her complaint and considered the information she and the Council sent.
5. Mrs F and the Council now have an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I will consider their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

6. I have summarised some key events; this is not meant to be a full description of everything that happened.
7. Mrs F’s daughter, Ms J, has learning disabilities. She moved into a supported living placement in 2018. Mrs F says she started having concerns about the placement in 2019. I have seen that she raised concerns with the Council in 2021 that Ms J was staying in her room, was not eating and was becoming distressed and self-harming. Mrs F was concerned about abuse by another resident, staffing levels and a lack of overnight care.
8. There were discussions in 2021 about Ms J moving to a different placement. In 2022, Ms J was diagnosed with depression and there were incidents that were raised as safeguarding concerns.
9. In October 2022, Mrs F took Ms J out of the placement to live with her and Ms J’s father. She says Ms J was very ill and distressed and the care was shambolic.
10. The Council had decided there needed to be a best interest decision and that Ms J required an independent advocate for this, before it would agree to commission a different placement for Ms J. Mrs F and another relative complained to the Council about the decision not to commission a new placement on 21 and 22 September 2022. They also raised the matter with an MP.
11. Mrs F then engaged a solicitor to challenge the Council’s decision. The Council therefore decided not to deal with the matter through its complaint procedure but through its legal department. There was then correspondence and meetings between Mrs F’s solicitor, Mrs F and the Council.
12. In March 2023 the Council agreed to a new placement for Ms J and she moved in April 2023.
13. Mrs F complained to the Council in February 2024 and came to the Ombudsman in June 2024 after receiving the Council’s response.

My findings

14. The law says 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 or care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
15. The Act is silent in relation to complaints from or on behalf of people who may have lacked or continue to lack capacity. However, I must still consider whether there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision about events that happened more than twelve months ago, and whether we are satisfied that the complainant could not reasonably be expected to have complained sooner. This is because we provide a free service but must use public money carefully.
16. Mrs F had raised concerns about the placement throughout 2021 and 2022. I can see no good reason why she could not have made a formal complaint to the Council then about the quality of care.
17. Her complaint in September 2022 about the Council’s decision with regards to a new placement included these concerns and why she considered it necessary to remove Ms J from the placement. The Council did not consider the matter under its complaint procedure as Mrs F had engaged a solicitor but this did not prevent Mrs F from pursuing the complaint or bringing it to the Ombudsman.
18. Once the issue of Ms J’s placement had been agreed in March 2023 Mrs F could have complained to the Council or the Ombudsman but she did not complain until February 2024. Mrs F says this was because they were working very closely with the new provider to support Ms J in the transition and dealing with a dispute with the Council about power of attorney. My view is these were not good reasons to have not complained to the Ombudsman sooner.

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Final decision

19. I have discontinued our investigation as the complaint is late.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman