Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council handled its safeguarding investigations. This is because part of the complaint is late and there is insufficient injustice in relation to the remaining issues.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the way the Council handled its safeguarding investigations for his mother, Mrs Y. He says it:
• Failed to leave following an unannounced visit upon realising she had visitors,
• Did not tell him of a follow up visit as agreed.
2. He feels the safeguarding assessment was biased towards another family member. He says the situation has caused him distress, placed Mrs Y at risk from the actions of another family member and that she had to pay for legal advice.

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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:

• any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, 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. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled its safeguarding investigations. Mr X complains about issues which happened in September and October 2024. He first contacted the Ombudsman in October 2025. As such part of the complaint is late. There are no good reasons to investigate the late issues now.
9. The Council’s actions complained about did not cause Mrs Y to have to seek legal advice or place Mrs Y at risk of harm. I appreciate Mr X feels other surrounding events have caused this, but this is not an impact of whether he received notice. There is insufficient injustice for the remaining complaints to warrant further investigation by the Ombudsman.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of the complaint is late and there is insufficient injustice to warrant investigation into the remaining issues.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman