Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr Y’s care provision. There is not enough evidence of fault in relation to some parts of Mrs X’s complaint and of the parts remaining, it would be reasonable to allow the Council to conclude its safeguarding investigation.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained to the Council about her dissatisfaction with several aspects of care, a care provider (CP), acting on behalf of the Council, gave to her father (Mr Y). Mrs X said this was beforehand and then leading up to his death and she said:
1. Care workers delayed getting medical assistance for Mr Y, before he died;
2. standards of Mr Y’s care provision, prior to this were poor, and;
3. Mr Y did not financially benefit from money that he should have.

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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 or care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
3. We investigate 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 continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• it would be reasonable for the council to conclude a review.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

6. Mrs X complained to the Council about several matters relating to Mr Y’s care. Some of the matters Mrs X complained about, occurred in 2018 and we will not investigate these matters. This is because they are late complaints and there are no good reasons why Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner about these complaints.
7. The Council considered Mrs X’s complaints about recent concerns and addressed these through its complaint procedures. It said it had investigated her complaint relating to language barriers between she and the care workers, who were looking after Mr Y. It said it could not uphold her complaint about this.
8. The Council also replied to Mrs X’s complaint that Mr Y did not benefit from all the money he had available to him. It said Mr X’s health had declined in recent months and this coupled with the period impacted on the COVID lockdowns, had meant his outgoings had decreased.
9. Given the Council’s explanations as highlighted at paragraphs 7 and 8, which relate to Mrs X’s complaints b) and c), it is unlikely, if we were to investigate, that we would find fault here. Therefore, we will not investigate these matters.
10. Mrs X raised several concerns about Mr Y’s care before he went into hospital, where he died a short time later (complaint a)). The Council’s records show it opened a safeguarding investigation following Mr Y’s death. These records show it is examining the events leading up to this point, including Mr Y’s diminishing health in the weeks beforehand, and its involvement along with health care professionals in deciding whether Mr Y’s placement was still appropriate.
11. We will not investigate this part of Mrs X’s complaint, because this is a matter that is being investigated as part of a safeguarding investigation. Therefore, it would be reasonable to allow the Council to consider this part of Mrs X’s complaint and if she remains unhappy when the safeguarding investigation is concluded, she can then make a further complaint about any remaining concerns to us at that point.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault with the Council in relation to parts of her complaint and of the other parts remaining, it would be reasonable to allow the Council to conclude its safeguarding investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman