Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s safeguarding investigation. There is not a good reason for the delay in bringing the matter to the Ombudsman. In any event, further investigation by us is unlikely to achieve a different outcome.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council did not involve her in a safeguarding investigation in 2021 relating to an incident involving her mother. She said she was therefore not aware until 2024 of the full extent of what had happened to her mother. She said the matter had caused her and her siblings significant distress. She said it would not be possible to put things right now.

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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:

• any fault has not caused injustice to the person who complained, or
• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• 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))

4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)

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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. Two incidents involving Miss X’s mother occurred in a care home in 2021. Miss X was informed of the nature of the incidents, and she decided to move her mother to a new home. Miss X knew the Council would be carrying out a safeguarding investigation. Miss X asked it to involve her.
8. Miss X says in 2024 she became aware, via a third party, of further details relating to the incidents. She complained to the Council. It provided further information to her and apologised that she had not been informed of the outcome of its investigation.
9. This complaint is late. The law says people must complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter unless there are good reasons. While Miss X found out further details in 2024, she had sufficient knowledge in 2021 to be able to complain to the Council and then us. I have considered the significant distress she experienced, however there is not sufficient reason for the three year delay in chasing the matter. The new information she found out in 2024 was not information she needed to be able to complain, and she could have complained sooner.
10. In any event, further investigation by us could not achieve a different or meaningful outcome. The Council accepted it should have informed her of the outcome of its investigation, and it apologised to her. It provided her further information about the incident that she says she should have been told in 2021. Miss X says there is no action that can be taken to put things right now. We could not remedy injustice to Miss X’s mother, because she has died. Miss X’s distress is mostly due to the incident itself, rather than the lack of contact from the Council, and so it is unlikely we would recommend anything different to the action the Council has already taken.
11. Miss X’s complaint was also about the Care Provider’s actions. She has already taken steps towards legal action against the provider itself, so we also would not investigate the Care Provider’s actions even if the complaint were in time.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late, and in any event we could not achieve a meaningful outcome by investigating.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman