Northumberland County Council (23 015 080)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 13 Feb 2024
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s alleged victim blaming of Mr Y. This is because the complaint concerns matters that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to refer this complaint to us at the time.
The complaint
- Mr X complained on Mr Y’s behalf that the Council engaged in victim blaming following a disclosure regarding historic abuse Mr Y suffered.
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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complains the Council initially refused to treat Mr Y as a victim of abuse and engaged in victim blaming when Mr Y made a disclosure regarding abuse he suffered.
- Mr X says he has previously complained to the Ombudsman regarding the abuse but did not become aware of the victim blaming element of the complaint until 2011. He also says the Ombudsman has received information regarding this in 2009.
- The Ombudsman will not usually exercise discretion to investigate events that took place more than 12 months before the complainant became aware of them unless there are good reasons to do so. In this case, the events Mr X has complained about took place over ten years ago. He has previously brought a complaint to the Ombudsman so it would have been reasonable for him to bring this complaint to us sooner. Exercising discretion to investigate this matter would not be appropriate.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the complaint concerns events that took place more than 12 months ago and it would have been reasonable for Mr X to refer this complaint to us at the time.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman