The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council not making suitable education for Mrs X’s son between 2018 and 2022. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.
The complaint
Mrs X complained that the Council failed to provide suitable education for her son between 2018 and 2022. Mrs X says that this significantly impacted on her son’s academic progress and placed a significant emotional and financial burden on her family.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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 Mrs X.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Mrs X complained about the Council not making suitable education provision for her son between 2018 and 2022.
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint as it is late. Mrs X may have good reasons why she was not able to make a complaint to us before now. But the events are between three and eight years old. We could not carry out an effective investigation of Mrs X’s complaint and reach a sound decision due to the passage of time. So, there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate Mrs X’s complaint.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint as it is late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman