The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s child protection involvement with her in the mid-1990s when she was a young child. The complaint is historic and lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. There are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
The complaint
The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, complains about the Council’s child protection involvement with her between 1996 and 1997. Ms X says the Council had evidence she was being abused but believed the word of the perpetrator instead of acting to protect her. Ms X says she complained to the Council about this when she was 17 years old and the Council told her to report the matter to the police.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Ms X recently complained to the Council about this matter.
The Council told Ms X it would not consider her complaint because the matters complained about happened too long ago. It said internal records were unlikely to be available; the officers involved would no longer be working for the Council and it would be difficult for it to conduct a thorough investigation now. It offered Ms X advice and signposting should she wish to report the matter to the police or make a civil claim.
The difficulties the Council sets out in carrying out a meaningful investigation now also apply to any investigation by this office. I acknowledge what Ms X has said about not being in a position to complain sooner, however I see no good grounds to consider this matter now. Even if some paper records were to remain, given the very significant passage of time, over 25 years, since the events complained about, I cannot see any realistic prospect of us being able to carry out a thorough and meaningful investigation and reach a fair and sound view on the matters complained about now.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint which lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The matters complained about are historic and there are no good grounds to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman