Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council managed its safeguarding enquiries. Some parts of the complaint are late and there is no good reason for the delay in bring these matters to us. We could not achieve a different outcome by investigating the remaining parts of the complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the way the Council managed its safeguarding enquiries relating to his family member, Ms Y. He says during the visit officers:
• Did not treat him with any respect,
• Did not take account of his views,
• Bullied him,
• Failed to accurately record what happened during the meeting in their notes.
2. Mr X says this has caused him stress.

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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)
5. 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
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

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

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council attended Ms Y’s property to carry out an assessment of Ms Y in early 2024. Mr X also lives at the property. He complains about the way the Council officers treated him during this visit. Mr X also complains about the notes the officer took during this meeting. He says these contain lies about what he did.
9. The Council has accepted that safeguarding assessments can be difficult and feel intrusive but says it had to carry out the assessment to ensure Ms Y’s safety. The Council says it cannot amend the notes carried out by the officers but says Mr X can provide his own summary of events which it will place on file.
10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The law says we cannot consider complaints made more than 12 months after a person found out about the matter, unless there are good reasons for the delay. Mr X’s complaint about the way he was treated in early 2024 is late. I see no good reason he could not have brought this complaint to us sooner.
11. Mr X’s complaint about the notes taken from the meeting were brought within 12 months but our investigation cannot achieve a different outcome. The Council has already offered to address Mr X’s concerns about the records by including additional information on the file which provides his account of the meeting. Were we to investigate we could not achieve a different outcome.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of Mr X’s complaint is late. We would not be able to achieve a different outcome were we to investigate the remaining complaints.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman