The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the support the Council provided to Miss X as a child. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons that meant the complaint could not have been made sooner.
The complaint
Miss X said the Council did not do enough when she was being looked after under a Special Guardianship Order (SGO). She said she unnecessarily suffered abuse and was wrongly treated as a problem child. She said this has significantly affected her.
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 the complainant and I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
Miss X said she unnecessarily suffered abuse by another person, while she was being looked after, while she was under an SGO. Miss X said this happened when she was 14 years old. Miss X said she was unable to raise these matters with us sooner, because of other events in her life from 2022 onwards.
I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint. This is because the law says we should usually not investigate matters, which have happened more than 12 months ago.
I acknowledge Miss X’s comments about what else was happening in her life that prevented these complaints being made earlier, but I am not satisfied they are sufficient good reasons to set aside the law, which says we should not investigate late complaints.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons that a complaint could not have been made sooner.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman