The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council ignoring his concerns about his child’s welfare since 2015. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
The complaint
The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council has ignored concerns he has raised about his child’s safety and welfare over the past ten years.
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 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) 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 and the Council.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within twelve months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. Mr X says he has been raising these concerns to the Council for ten years. I see no good reason to exercise discretion to consider this very late complaint now. The complaint could have been made to us much sooner.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it lies outside our jurisdiction and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman