Summary: We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint about how the Council acted on safeguarding concerns in relation to her late father. This is because the complaint is late and investigation is unlikely to find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mrs Y complains the Council failed to act when Mr Z prevented her and another sibling from seeing their dying father, Mr X. She says the Council ignored key emails, did not act on safeguarding concerns, and did not intervene despite Mr X showing signs of distress and neglect when admitted to hospital. Mrs Y says she was unable to say goodbye, causing lasting emotional harm. She wants an explanation for the lack of action and communication.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. 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 (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. 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 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

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

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My assessment

7. The Council advised us that Mrs Y’s complaint has not been brought to them formally to be considered under its corporate complaints process. However, it advised as the complaint concerns events relating to a family dispute that occurred in 2024 and Mr X has since died. The Council say it would not typically consider a complaint about events that occurred more than 12 months ago.
8. The Council told us Mrs Y made reports to it in 2024 raising safeguarding concerns for her father, Mr X and reporting her brother Mr Z was restricting her access to Mr X and acted aggressively towards her and her sibling.
9. The Council said it assessed safeguarding referrals visited spoke with Mr X privately and reviewed risk. The Council also sought advice and concluded it could not compel Mr Z, as homeowner, to allow access to the property where Mr X lived.
10. The Council said it found no evidence of coercion or abuse of Mr X that would justify further safeguarding action.
11. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint. This is because the complaint is late. We expect people to complain to us after complaining to the Council within 12 months of them becoming aware of the matter complained of. Any complaint made after 12 months is late.
12. The Ombudsman can exercise discretion to consider late complaints if there is good reason to do so. I have not enquired whether there is a good reason, because even if we investigated it is unlikely we would find evidence of fault by the Council.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs Y’s complaint because it is late. It is also unlikely if we did investigate that we would find fault with the Council.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman