Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about contact restrictions imposed by the Council’s children’s services. This is because the complaint is made late and there are no good reasons to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr C, says that the Council has unfairly imposed restrictions on his contact with a child that he and his wife previously fostered.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 the information provided by Mr C and I sent him an initial view for his comments.

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What I found

5. Mr C and his wife fostered a child, Y for several years. However, in 2017 Y made a sexualised comment regarding Mr C. A safeguarding investigation was carried out, and the Council placed restrictions on future contact between Y and Mr C.
6. Mr C is unhappy about the restrictions, which he regards as unfair and unnecessary, and he has complained about the Council’s actions in respect of himself. He feels that the safeguarding investigation was not carried out properly, that he has never been made fully aware of the allegations against him, and that the Council’s response to his complaint is inadequate.
7. I will not investigate the complaint however, as it is made late. The Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints about matters known to the complainant more than 12 months previously, unless there are good reasons to exercise discretion to set aside the restriction.
8. In this case, Mr C knew about the comments by Y and the Council’s contact restrictions in 2017. He says that the Ombudsman should exercise discretion because circumstances made it difficult for him to complain earlier, and he only received a final response from the Council in 2019.
9. I do not agree that there are good reasons to investigate this case now. This is because Mr C did not complain to the Council until 2019 and the circumstances described by him would not have prevented him from complaining sooner.
10. Additionally, an investigation by the LGSCO would not be able to achieve a worthwhile outcome. Mr C says he feels the Council has not provided him with full details of what Y is alleged to have said about him, but the Council says he has that information. Further investigation by the LGSCO is unlikely to resolve this dispute, or to be able to provide Mr C’s desired outcome of lifting the contact restrictions.

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Final decision

11. I will not investigate this complaint as it is made late and there are no good reasons to consider it now.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman