Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the level and adequacy of support provided by the Council to the complainant in 2020 when social services became involved with his family. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion and investigate despite the passage of time.

The complaint

1. The complainant (Mr W) is making a complaint about alleged failures by the Council’s social services team to provide him with support and necessary safeguarding during a period in 2020. He says this period was a difficult time because his wife became mentally unwell which resulted in the Council becoming involved with the family. Mr W explains the Council told him he had to leave his family home due to domestic violence allegations his wife had made against him. He feels the Council did not provide him with any support during this period as a vulnerable adult at risk of harm.
2. In summary, Mr W says the alleged failings caused him significant distress and impacted on his wellbeing. As a desired outcome, he wants the Council to end its involvement with him and his family. He also believes the social workers involved in his case should face disciplinary proceedings.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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).

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The legal restriction I outline at paragraph three (above) inserts a time limit for a member of the public to bring their complaint to the attention of the Ombudsman. Its intention is two-fold: to provide us with the best opportunity of arriving at a robust, evidence-based decision on complaints about recent events and to ensure fairness by enabling us to decline an investigation into historic matters, which could and should have formed the basis of a complaint to us far sooner.
6. The complaint requires examining events in 2020 (over four years ago) to determine what actions the Council took at the time, as well how Mr W was treated and supported. The complaint is therefore late by over three years. I have considered whether there are good reasons to exercise my discretion. However, Mr W has not pointed to any specific evidence to demonstrate fault in this case and I consider there would now be practical challenges in obtaining such relevant evidence given the passage of time. It is therefore unlikely we would be able to reach an evidence-based judgement on the issues raised. I also consider Mrs W could have complained to us sooner and the evidence does not suggest there is any good reason why he did not do so. I will not exercise my discretion and to disapply our time limits.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint because the issues have been brought to us late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion and investigate despite the passage of time.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman