Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council-funded care her brother received from a domiciliary care agency, and the Council’s subsequent delay in investigating the neglect he suffered. We will not consider this late complaint. While the Council’s investigation was responsible for some of the time it took before Mrs X complained, it would have been reasonable for her to complain to the Ombudsman sooner and it is unlikely we could now carry out a fair investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council-funded care her brother received from a domiciliary care agency and the Council’s subsequent delay in investigating the neglect he suffered.

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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 the information Mrs X provided when she complained.
4. I gave Mrs X the opportunity to comment on my draft decision.

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What I found

5. Mrs X’s brother, Mr Y, was taken to hospital in December 2016. The ambulance service made a safeguarding referral to the Council due to concerns about his condition. He received a care package from a domiciliary care agency which was funded by the Council.
6. Mr Y passed away several days later. Mrs X says the police were initially involved and it took the police a year to consider matters. When the police confirmed in early 2018 they would not take matters any further, the Council was able to begin its investigation.
7. The Council took until August 2018 to complete its safeguarding investigation. It found Mr Y had suffered neglect. Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council in January 2019, and the Council replied in May 2019 upholding her complaint.
8. Mrs X says she then asked the Council to carry out a safeguarding adult review (SAR) given that Mr Y had been neglected by his care provider and had passed away. She says the Council is still deciding whether to carry out a SAR.
9. Mrs X complained to us in January 2020. We usually expect complaints to be made to us within 12 months. The substantive part of the complaint is the neglect Mr Y experienced, and there was indication in December 2016 that Mr Y had been neglected so there was enough reason at that time to complain. I have accounted, however, for the time it took the police to consider what had happened, because neither the Council nor Mrs X were responsible for that time period. I consider the 12 months therefore as starting from the beginning of 2018 when the police closed their investigation.
10. The Council was responsible for a significant proportion of the two years between then and Mrs X complaining to us, while it was investigating what had happened and later responding to Mrs X’s complaint. Therefore, I have made allowances for this and I have not applied the 12-month rule rigidly. However, Mrs X could also reasonably have expedited matters at times. She could have made her formal complaint in August 2018 on receiving the Council’s safeguarding outcome, and she could then have come to us before the end of 2018 if she had not received a satisfactory response. It is not clear why Mrs X did not complain to us in May 2019 when the Council signposted her to us after it completed its complaint procedures, but it was then a further eight months before she contacted us.
11. The longer that has passed since events, the more difficult it becomes for us to carry out a fair investigation or to make recommendations that are meaningful. We could not remedy any injustice to Mr Y as he has passed away.

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Fnal decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this late complaint. This is because it would have been reasonable for Mrs X to complain to us sooner, and we could not now carry out a fair investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman