Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision to withhold information from her about her mother in 2016, which she later found out about in 2018. We will not investigate this late complaint. It is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s actions because we cannot speculate now about what happened in 2016. We could not achieve a meaningful remedy for Mrs X or her mother.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council did not tell her in 2016 when her mother was injured while living with Mrs X’s brother. Mrs X is concerned the Council may not have properly safeguarded her mother.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

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

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered the information Mrs X provided when she complained, and I spoke with her to gather further information.
6. I considered Mrs X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

7. Mrs X’s mother, Mrs Y, lives with Mrs X’s brother, Mr Z. The Council became involved in 2016 to consider Mrs Y’s welfare due to the circumstances surrounding her move to Mr Z’s home.
8. In April 2018, Mrs X found out the Council had not told her in 2016 about an injury Mrs Y sustained while in Mr Z’s care. This was 17 months before Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman. We usually cannot investigate complaints made to us more than 12 months after the person became aware of the issue. However, we can exercise discretion to consider late complaints where there are good reasons to do so. I have therefore considered whether we should investigate this late complaint.
9. When the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint it said that in 2016, it had found Mrs Y had the mental capacity to decide Mrs X should not be informed about the injury. Therefore, it did not tell Mrs X. Mrs X is concerned the Council’s capacity assessment was flawed. She acknowledges she cannot say now whether Mrs Y was able to make that decision at the time, but she suspects
   Mrs Y did not have capacity or was influenced by Mr Z. Other capacity assessments have found Mrs Y lacks capacity in other areas, which leads Mrs X to doubt the Council’s assessment. However, Mrs X understands the law says mental capacity is specific to each decision that needs to be made, at the time it needs to be made.
10. The Council told Mrs X that following its visit, it was not concerned about Mrs Y’s welfare. Councils may not always share the details of their enquiries with family members, and where a person has capacity their expressed wishes would generally be respected. Mrs X is understandably frustrated and distressed by the Council’s decision not to tell her about her mother’s injury, however that does not mean it was at fault.
11. We could not determine what happened in 2016. We could not say whether Mrs Y had capacity at the time to make the decision not to tell Mrs X about her injury. We could not say if the views she expressed were properly communicated to the Council, and accurately understood. We cannot say the outcome would have been different had Mrs Y lacked capacity. We are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions.
12. Mrs X is concerned about the Council’s motivation for not having told her about her mother’s injury, and believes the social worker should be investigated and struck off. This is not an outcome we could achieve, as we make recommendations to councils rather than individuals. The Health and Care Professions Council is the body best placed to decide whether individual workers meet the necessary standards and it is open to Mrs X to contact it if she believes this is necessary.

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Final decision

13. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because we are unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions, and we cannot provide a meaningful remedy as we cannot provide the answers Mrs X seeks.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman