East Riding of Yorkshire Council (22 001 572)
Category : Adult care services > Residential care
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 20 Jun 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about matters relating to her mother’s care home placement between late 2017 and early 2020. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and I see no good grounds to consider it now.
The complaint
- The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about matters relating to her mother’s (Mrs Y’s) Council arranged care home placement.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
- I sent the complainant a copy of my draft decision and invited her comments on it.
My assessment
- Mrs X complains about numerous issues relating to Mrs Y’s care in her care home placement. The matters complained about happened between late 2017 and early 2020. Mrs Y sadly died in early 2020.
- Mrs X also complains about a data breach.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. This is because the complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. Mrs X was aware of these matters well over 12 months ago and complained about some matters to the care home back in 2020. I see no good grounds to consider this very late complaint now.
- The complaint about the data breach, whilst also late, is a matter the Information Commissioner’s Office is best placed to consider, rather than the Ombudsman.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman