The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s response to safeguarding concerns she raised about her children more than 12 months ago. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.
The complaint
Ms X complains the Council failed to properly recognise, and act on, safeguarding concerns she raised about her children. Ms X says her concerns were recorded as malicious and she was not believed. As a result of this, she has had no contact with her children for the past three years.
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 a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council told Ms X it would not investigate her complaint. This is because it was about matters it previously considered and responded to via its complaints procedure in 2023 and because there are ongoing court proceedings on the case.
We will not investigate this complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person affected first becoming aware of the matter. Ms X was clearly aware of the matter as far back as 2023 when she complained to the Council about it. I see no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now, so long after she first became aware of the matter.
The Council’s response also refers to the case being subject to ongoing court proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that are being, or have been, considered in court. We have no discretion to do so. If the court proceedings are about the same matters Ms X is complaining about we would have no discretion to consider them as the law prevents us from doing so. This restriction would apply even if the complaint had been made to us within 12 months.
Final decision
We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman