Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about his late father’s care fees. The complaint is late and there is not a good reason for the delay.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the fees for his father’s care. Mr X requested a partial refund from the Council due to a hospital admission. Mr X said the Council has been dismissive of the concerns and failed to investigate his complaint until two years later. He said the matter caused him stress, and he wants the Council to reduce his father’s fees by 20% for the period he was in hospital.

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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:

• 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X first complained to the Council in January 2023. The law says people must complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter. Mr X complained to us in July 2024. Mr X says the Council did not deal with the matter for two years; however, during this time Mr X could have brought the complaint to us sooner or escalated the issue with the Council.
7. In any event, even if the complaint were not late, the Council waived Mr X’s father’s care fees as part of a related complaint, and it is unlikely we would have investigated the matter as we could not achieve a significantly different or worthwhile outcome.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about care fees. The complaint is late and there is not a good reason for the delay.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman