The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about alleged failings by the Council. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant investigation, and key matters in the complaint relate to the police and the NHS.
The complaint
Miss X said the Council left her child to go to ruin for 17 years. She said she had been the victim of a serious offence, and every service had failed her and her child.
Her complaint to the Council concerned an allegation the Council had closed her case without her child having a diagnosis of autism, and an alleged failure of the Council in respect of Clare’s Law.
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 cannot investigate complaints about actions which are not the administrative function of a council. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(1) 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or 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
The complaint about any matters before 2024 is late. Miss X’s complaint about matters before that date is also generalised in that she said the Council had allowed matters to go to ruin for 17 years. There is no good reason to exercise direction to consider a complaint about matters before 2024.
Clare’s Law relates to the right to request information from the police about an alleged offender who may have a record involving domestic violence. This matter relates to an individual who Miss X says committed a serious offence against her. It is thus a matter for the police, not the Council.
A diagnosis of autism is a medical matter. It is not a Council function to seek a diagnosis of autism for a child.
The Council’s correspondence with Miss X included a recent letter inviting her to contact its adult social care department to request help. I note her child will become an adult in the near future. I also note the Council’s response to her complaint stated she had twice declined offers of service after the Council carried out an assessment of her family in late 2023. It also gave examples of help it said it had provided, adaptations and cleaning. Taken together, the correspondence suggests it is unlikely investigation by us would find the Council failed to assess need, or to offer Miss X social care help.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because doing so would be unlikely to find fault in the Council’s actions, or to lead to any worthwhile outcome. Some of the matters complained of are not duties of the Council.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman