Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Occupational Therapy support provided by the Council. This is because matters complained about are late, and there is not enough evidence of fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the service she received from the Council’s Occupational Therapy (OT) service.
2. She says there was a delay to the start of her daughter’s OT treatment, frequent changes of staff and poor communication.

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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 provider 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. (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 Miss X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Miss X complains the Council was due to start providing OT in 2022, it delayed this and did not complete the sessions until March 2025. Further the service was poor.
9. Any complaint about delay and quality of service from 2022 is out of time with no good reason to exercise discretion, Miss X could have complained to us sooner.
10. Any ongoing delay and poor service in the 12 months before Miss X contacted us is in time; that is the period September 2024 to March 2025. However, I will not investigate because there is not enough evidence of fault.
11. The Council had no legal duty to provide OT; this was not part of a final Education and Health Care Plan nor an obligation under Children’s services. There is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.
12. It is not a proportionate use of resources to consider complaints about poor communication when we are not investigating the substantive issue.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because matters complained about are late, and there is not enough evidence of fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman