Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s actions when it received a safeguarding alert. There is not a good reason Ms X did not complain sooner.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council investigated a malicious report about her. It involved the police and accommodated her mother in a care home against their will, for which it charged them over £7,000. It did not involve Ms X in its decision or financial assessment. Ms X and her mother could not have contact for two months and the police involvement was traumatising. This has worsened Ms X’s grief, as her mother has since passed away. Ms X wants the Council to be held accountable, to waive the charges and review how it communicates with families.

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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. The Ombudsman investigates 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 may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. The Council received an alert in January 2021, which Ms X says was malicious, stating Ms X had verbally and physically assaulted her mother. Ms X and the Council give different accounts of events in the two days following the alert. Ms X says had the Council acted properly, her mother would not have been required to stay in a care home for two months, against their will, at a cost of over £7,000.
7. Matters concluded when Ms X’s mother returned home in April 2021. Ms X first complained to the Council in January 2022, after it chased her for payment of the charges.
8. We normally require people to complain to us within 12 months of events. There is not a good reason for the significant delay in Ms X bringing her complaint to the Ombudsman.
9. In any event, there is no evidence we would find the Council at fault if we investigated this complaint. The Council is not responsible for the action the police decided to take. Nor is it responsible for the alert being malicious, if this was the case. The Council had a duty to protect Ms X’s mother when it received information indicating she was at risk of harm, and it is entitled to charge for the care Ms X’s mother received.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Ms X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason she did not complain sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman