Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X complaint that the Council did not pay her late daughter for the care she provided to a third party for around two and half years. She says the Council has now refused to pay her daughter’s estate the money owed. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council did not pay her late daughter for the care she provided to a third party for two and a half years. She says the Council has now refused to pay her daughter’s estate the money owed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s late daughter, Ms Z, provided care and support to a third party. Mrs X said her daughter was not paid for the care provided for around two and half years, covering the period 2020-2023.
6. Mrs X is dealing with her daughter’s estate and asked the Council to pay the estate the money due to cover the period Ms X was not paid. However, the Council has declined to do so as it says it cannot verify the invoices that were provided were contemporaneous invoices raised at the time the support was provided.
7. The Council added the invoices only set out the hours of support claimed for, but don’t provide any detail or evidence of what care was provided and whether it covered support as set out in the third party’s care and support plan. The Council also said no reason has been provided to explain why Ms Z did not invoice the Council earlier.
8. The law states we cannot investigate matter that happened more than 12 months ago unless there are good reasons to exercise discretion. It is acknowledged it is likely Mrs X only became aware of the matter following her daughter’s death. However, the law states the 12 months begin with the day on which the person affected first had notice of the matter.
9. I have no reason to believe Ms Z did not have notice of the matter between 2020 and 2023. This is because she was providing the care, and it should have been clear to her she was not receiving payment for the service provided. There is no evidence to suggest Ms Z lacked capacity at the time to raise a complaint about the lack of payment for the care she provided. Therefore, it was reasonable to expect Ms Z to have complained about the matter at the time.
10. Further, I cannot see any good reasons for why Ms Z could not have complained about the issue at the time. Therefore, I will not exercise discretion to consider the late complaint now.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider the late complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman