Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council not completing recommendations it made in relation to care it provided to her late mother. This is because the complaint is late and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council failed to carry out recommendations it made following an investigation into her concerns regarding the care, the Council commissioned Care Provider provided to her late mother, Mrs Y. She said the care it provided to her mother was poor which caused her harm. As part of a remedy, Mrs X wants the Council to complete an independent review of the Care Provider to ensure it complied with the recommendations.

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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’, 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.

(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 said in 2020, the Council delivered care and support to her late mother. She said there were concerns that the care it provided was poor and caused her avoidable harm.
7. The Council investigated the concerns and it concluded its investigation in late 2022. It found there was some fault with the Care Provider and made recommendations to prevent a recurrence of fault. Mrs X said in late 2024, the Council sent her a lessons learned report in relation to the investigation. Mrs X said the Council had not completed the recommendations it made. She complained to the Council in 2025. The Council responded to Mrs X and said it had conducted a review of the Care Provider in March 2023 which resulted in a quality assurance report and a plan to improve its services. The Care Provider had completed the service improvements by July 2023. The Council completed a further review in 2024 and further service improvements were made again.
8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and so paragraph two applies. Mrs X became aware the Council had concluded its investigation in 2022 and that it had made recommendations. Mrs X could have asked the Council sooner for evidence of completed recommendations. If she then deemed at the time the Council had not completed them, she could have brought her complaint to us sooner.
9. In any case, the Council has explained to Mrs X that the Care Provider had made service improvements following its reviews. Therefore, it would be unlikely we would find fault with the Council as it said it had completed the recommendations following the investigation.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late and there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman