Summary: Miss X complained a Care Home arranged by the Council failed to provide suitable care for her father, Mr Y. We are ending our investigation. Miss X’s complaint is late. The Council has also taken appropriate action. We cannot achieve a worthwhile outcome from further investigation as we are unlikely to be able to achieve the remedy Miss X wants. The Information Commissioner is best placed to investigate Miss X’s complaint about her subject access request.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained a Care Home arranged by the Council failed to provide suitable care for her father, Mr Y, and made unsubstantiated allegations against her resulting in safeguarding action. She also complained the Care Home failed to respond to her complaint and subject access request. Miss X says this caused her father to be evicted from his care home and caused her distress. She wants the Council to acknowledge its failings, apologise and compensate her.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. Part 3 and Part 3A of the Local Government Act 1974 give us our powers to investigate adult social care complaints. Part 3 is for complaints where local councils provide services themselves. It also applies where a council arranges or commissions care services from a provider, even if the council charges the person receiving the care. In these cases, we treat the provider’s actions as if they were council actions. (Part 3 and Part 3A Local Government Act 1974; section 25(6) & (7) of the Act)
3. 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
• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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).

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What I have and have not investigated

5. The Information Commissioner's Office considers complaints about freedom of information. Its decision notices may be appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights). So where we receive complaints about freedom of information, we normally consider it reasonable to expect the person to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner. I have not investigated the Council or care provider’s response to Ms X’s subject access request.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Miss X and the Council now have an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

What happened

8. Miss X’s father, Mr Y was discharged from hospital in early 2024. Following a short stay in a respite home to assess his care needs the Council moved Mr Y to a care home for further assessment. The Council assessed Mr Y as needing 24-hour care.
9. While Mr Y was resident at the care home the Council investigated safeguarding concerns over Mr Y’s finances. In March 2024 the Council’s records show it discussed Mr Y’s care with Miss X. The records show that Miss X said she could not meet Mr Y’s care needs at home. Miss X said she was unhappy with Mr Y’s care at the care home. The Council told Miss X that Mr Y had capacity to decide on his care placement.
10. At some point in early May the care home gave Mr Y notice to leave the home following issues with his behaviour. Mr Y died on 22 May 2024.
11. A year later, in May 2025 Miss X complained to the Council about its decision to care for Mr Y in the care home. She said Mr Y had received inadequate care, the care home had changed his GP without asking and pressured him to accept charged services he did not want, such as hairdressing. She said the care home had not responded adequately when Mr Y hurt himself and refused to accept her complaint.
12. The Council responded to Miss X’s complaint in June 2025. It explained that Miss X could not have met Mr Y’s needs at home and Mr Y had capacity to decide where he wanted to be cared for. It accepted the care home had resisted Miss X’s complaint and not told Miss X when it changed Mr Y’s GP. However, the Council said there was no evidence it pressured him to use its paid services. The Council was satisfied with Mr Y’s care but noted the home’s response to Mr Y’s injuries could be improved. It reiterated that Mr Y had been asked to leave the home due to issues with his behaviour. The Council said its quality assurance team would work with the home on the areas identified for improvement. Miss X remained unhappy and complained to the Ombudsman.

My findings

13. The events Miss X complains about took place over 12 months before her complaint to the Ombudsman and are therefore late. I have seen no good reason why we should nevertheless investigate Miss X’s complaint.
14. Were we to investigate Miss X’s complaint it is also unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome or achieve the outcome Miss X wants. Since the events complained about Mr Y has died. We do not recommend payments to someone’s estate where we have to make a decision over the quality of care provided. The Council has accepted issues with aspects of the care home’s care of Mr Y and taken action to address these. We cannot achieve any more.
15. We would also not criticise the Council for investigating safeguarding concerns. The Council looked into the concerns and took no further action following Mr Y’s death. There has been no significant injustice to Miss X.

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Decision

16. I have ended my investigation and do not uphold Miss X’s complaint. I cannot achieve a worthwhile outcome from further investigation as I am unlikely to be able to achieve the remedy Miss X wants.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman