Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when it carried out a safeguarding investigation. This is because it is a late complaint and there are not good reasons to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the way the Council carried out a safeguarding investigation following an incident involving her mother who she was caring for.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. The incident involving Mrs X’s mother happened in June 2019. The Council then made safeguarding enquiries into what happened. These were concluded on 4 July 2021 but the Council accepts Mrs X was not informed of this. Mrs X raised a complaint with the Council and it sent its final response to her in February 2020 and advised her she could complain to the Ombudsman if she was still unhappy. Mrs X first complained to the Ombudsman in May 2021 and we decided her complaint was premature as she did not provide us with a copy of the Council’s final response to her complaint. Mrs X complained again to the Ombudsman in November 2021.
6. Mrs X was aware of the Council’s safeguarding investigations in mid 2019 but she did not raise a complaint with the Ombudsman until May 2021 and then again in November 2021. Therefore, this is a late complaint.
7. We have the power to disregard this restriction where there are good reasons for doing so. However, I cannot see any reason why Mrs X could not have complained to us sooner if she was unhappy with the actions of the Council. Whilst I appreciate this was a distressing matter for Mrs X and the Covid-19 pandemic may have limited her ability to raise a complaint it does not account for the fact it took 19 months for her to contact us initially and another further 6 months to provide us with a copy of the Council’s final response to her complaint.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is a late complaint and there are no good reasons for us to look at it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman