Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council responded to Mr X’s complaint and his information request. This is because it is late, there is not enough evidence of fault and there is another body better placed to consider parts of Mr X’s complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council did not consider his complaint about his safeguarding concerns and request for documents. He said this has caused him great stress and had a negative impact on his health. He would like the Council to release the documents he has requested.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X complained the Council did not consider his complaint about adult social care matters that took place up to 2021.
7. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. The complaint 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.
8. Mr X said he could not raise his complaint sooner due to personal reasons and health matters. However, it is unlikely that if we investigated, we could now carry out a robust investigation.
9. In its response to Mr X, the Council told him they would not consider his complaint because it could not look at complaints over 12 months old. It also told Mr X it would not open a safeguarding enquiry into historical matters and advised him to report historical concerns to the police.
10. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault. The Council explained why it would not consider his complaint because it was about matters that were over 12 months old and signposted him on his other concerns.
11. Mr X also requested his adult social care records and those of his late mother. The Council said it sent Mr X a copy of his adult social care records in November 2025. The Council advised Mr X what documentation he needed to provide to access his mother’s records.
12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council handled his subject access request. The Information Commissioner (ICO) is best placed to consider complaints about how public bodies deal with requests for information.

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Final decision

13. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late, there is not enough evidence of fault and there is another body better placed to consider parts of Mr X’s complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman