Kingston Upon Hull City Council (26 017 498)
Category : Adult care services > Safeguarding
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s offer of support to Mr X. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by us investigating.
The complaint
- Mr X says the Council has not properly supported him over several years. He also says it has blocked his access to support services and other agencies.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X made a complaint to us about two main issues. Firstly, he was unhappy that we closed a complaint he made to us in early 2024 about how the Council had failed to properly support him over the previous 30 years. We decided there was no worthwhile outcome to us investigating that complaint and closed it. I will not revisit that decision because we have already decided it.
- Secondly, Mr X said he was unhappy with how the Council was currently dealing with him. However, Mr X has not set out what specific action the Council has taken, or failed to take, which affects him more recently. The Council said it has not had any contact with Mr X since 2024.
- Therefore, I will close this complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome we can achieve.
- Mr X made his complaint to us in September 2026. The law that I have referred to in paragraph two means that we should not investigate a complaint about the Council’s actions before September 2025.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman