Summary: Mrs X complains about the Council’s failure to respond to her safeguarding concerns about her late parent, Mr Y, who was living with another family member. We will not investigate. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint has been made late so it is caught by the time bar on our jurisdiction. But even if we were to exercise discretion to investigate, it is unlikely we would be able to add anything more to the Council’s investigation.

The complaint

1. In summary, Mrs X says the Council failed to act on her complaints that her parent, Mr Y, was under coercive control by another family member.
2. Mrs X says she would like an apology for the Council’s neglect of Mr Y.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
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 do not start an investigation if we decide we could not add to any previous investigation by the council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

My Assessment

8. Mrs X complains that, despite raising concerns to the Council in 2023 about her late parent being under another family member’s coercive control, the Council failed to investigate and act.
9. The Council has responded relatively recently to Mrs X. It has apologized for not keeping Mrs X informed. It said it did take some initial action in 2023 but admits it failed to keep Mrs X informed.
10. The Council writes that it checked with Mr Y about Mrs X’s concerns. It found Mr Y did not corroborate Mrs X’s version of events. It adds that ‘family dynamics’ can be difficult, and it would always try to accede to the wishes of the person in need of care and support. But it did not find anything actionable. The Council also says it identified a service improvement after investigating Mrs X’s complaint and failing to respond to her. And that it has improved its processes to ensure this failing does not happen again.
11. We will not investigate this complaint as it is caught by the time bar on the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. We would expect Mrs X to have raised her complaints to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the complaint matters.
12. However, even if we were to exercise our discretion to investigate, it is unlikely we would be able to add to the Council’s investigation. The Council has apologised to Mrs X and says it has improved its processes to make sure people raising concerns are updated. This accords with the Ombudsman’s guidelines for investigating complaints and we are unlikely to achieve anything to add to the Council’s investigation.

Back to top

Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction as it has been made late. And if we did exercise discretion to investigate, it is unlikely we could add to the Council’s investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman