Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to safeguarding the complainant’s late mother. The complaint lies outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because it is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider the complaint now.

The complaint

2. The complainant, to whom I here refer as Mr Z, says that the Council was at fault when it refused to re-open a safeguarding investigation regarding care provided for his late mother shortly before she died. He considers the safeguarding process carried out in January 2020 was seriously faulty.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by the Mr Z, including his comments in response to my draft decision, and the Council.
6. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. Mr Z’s mother had a fall in her residential care home at the beginning of January 2020. A few days later the care provider sent a safeguarding report to the Council. The Council established that the fall was witnessed by Mr Z, medical attention was sought immediately and the care provider responded appropriately in seeking medical treatment. Some actions were identified as necessary following the incident and the case was closed without investigation.
8. Mr Z says he did not know about this safeguarding process at the time. He considers it was faulty as in his opinion there was some false information included in the incident report sent to the Council.
9. At the beginning of June 2020 Mr Z requested from the Care Provider information on the quality of care provided for her. At the end of June 2020 he received some information but the safeguarding report was not included. In October 2020 Mr Z’s solicitor requested all the documents relating to the care provided for Mr Z’s late mother. Among the documents received in late December 2020/early January 2021 Mr Z found a record of the safeguarding process which took place after his mother’s fall. Following the second request for the documents in March 2021, in April 2021 Mr Z contacted the Council with his concerns regarding the safeguarding process which took place in January 2020.
10. We cannot consider complaints made more than 12 months after the date when the complainant knew about the issue unless there are good reasons to do so. Although in accordance with Mr Z’s statement he was not aware of the Council’s safeguarding report in January 2020, he nevertheless says that from the moment of his mother’s fall he has had concerns about the quality of care she received. He could have raised concerns with the Care Home or with the Council at the time.
11. Moreover, even after receiving the documents which informed him of the safeguarding process which took place in the middle of January 2020, over 3 months passed before Mr Z complained to the Council.
12. The longer that has passed since an event, the more difficult it becomes for us to carry out a fair investigation or to make recommendations that are meaningful.
13. In his response to my draft decision Mr Z says that in his opinion there are good reasons to exercise discretion and consider his late complaint. Exceptional circumstances of the COVID pandemic, delays with the Council’s response to his requests for documents and gravity of the alleged Care Home’s failings should, in his view, sufficiently justify the delay in bringing his complaint.
14. Having reviewed again all the documents I do not consider that there are any good reasons to exercise our discretion and investigate this complaint outside the usual 12 months’ time limit. Mr Z has had safeguarding concerns since January 2020 and he has had legal support since at least October 2020. Registering his safeguarding concerns with the Council did not require any specific documents from the Care Home as these could have been obtained during the safeguarding investigation. Consequently impact of the COVID pandemic would have been limited.
15. Furthermore, it would be difficult to carry out a fair investigation now that 19 months have elapsed since the event.

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Final decision

16. We will not investigate Mr Z’s complaint because it is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to consider this late complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman