Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s and Ms C’s complaint about the Council’s safeguarding investigation into their concerns about their late mother’s, Mrs D’s, care during 2012 and 2013 or its responses and delay in considering their complaints. This is because we could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding of the kind Mr B and Ms C want.

The complaint

1. Mr B and Ms C complained about the way the Council considered a safeguarding investigation in 2014 into care their late mother, Mrs D received in 2012 and 2013. Mr B and Ms C complained about the way the Council corresponded with them about the investigation and failure to respond to their complaints about it. Mr B and Ms C say they have been attempting to obtain information to understand how decisions were reached for several years and the complaint they make now is based on the Council’s response dated 9 March 2021. Mr B and Ms C say:

• The Council has now admitted it failed to follow procedures in its investigation into Mrs D’s care;
• The Council made no contact with them despite telling them in 2014 it would, and they found out themselves in 2015 the outcome of the 2014 safeguarding investigation;
• The Council failed to appoint an advocate for Mrs D who could have spoken on her behalf;
• A serious burn Mrs D suffered in 2012, requiring specialist treatment was initially reported as occurring on 11 March 2014, but an entry found in communications handbook records the injury as occurring on 10 March 2012.

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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)
3. 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 could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

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

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information and documentation the Council, Mr B and Ms C provided. I sent Mr B and Ms C a copy of my draft decision for comment.

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What I found

5. Mr B and Ms C complained to the Ombudsman in 2014 about the care Mrs D had received from her care provider prior to her death in 2013. The Ombudsman investigated their concerns and found fault. He made recommendations and provided a remedy for the injustice caused to Mr B and Ms C. The Ombudsman informed the Care Quality Commission of the concerns found. The Ombudsman explained he would not investigate Mr B’s and Ms C’s complaints about a burn Mrs D had received because this element of their complaint was late and they could have come to us before 2014 if they were concerned about injuries Mrs D sustained in 2012.
6. While Mr B and Ms C pursued their complaints about the safeguarding investigation with the Council and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 they did not come back to the Ombudsman until after they had received a response from the Council in March 2021. Mr B and Ms C say the response now shows the deficits in Mrs D’s care, failures in the safeguarding investigation and failure to correspond with them. The Council has apologised that matters were not fully addressed in the safeguarding investigation at the time and has advised Mr B and Ms C of the reviews it has carried out and processes it is currently reviewing with the care provider. We could not achieve a different outcome even if we investigated now and are satisfied an apology and review of policies and procedures remedies the injustice caused by the delay.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because we could not add to the Council’s response or make a different finding of the kind Mr B and Ms C want.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman