The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the education provided to the complainant’s daughter. The complaint is late and Miss X could have complained sooner. It would now be difficult to carry out a meaningful investigation.
The complaint
The complainant, Miss X, complained about the education provided to her daughter following a permanent exclusion. Miss X says a lack of support affected her daughter’s mental health and she is now behind in her education.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not start an investigation into Miss X’s complaint.
The issue Miss X complains about dates to 2019. The Ombudsman normally expects people to complain to us within twelve months of them becoming aware of a problem. Miss X’s complaint is therefore late.
We look at each complaint individually, and on its merits, considering the circumstances of each case. But we do not exercise discretion to accept a late complaint unless there are good reasons to do so. I do not consider that to be the case here. I see no reason Miss X could not have complained much earlier and so the exception at paragraph 3 applies to her complaint.
Given the time that has elapsed it would also now be difficult to investigate what happened and to achieve a meaningful outcome. An investigation is not therefore appropriate.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late, and it was reasonable for Miss X to have complained sooner. It would also now be difficult to investigate because of the time which has elapsed.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman