Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s actions during her childhood when she was a looked after child and about the court’s decision that three of her children should be adopted. The complaint lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. Also, the Ombudsman cannot investigate matters which have been considered and decided in court.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Miss X, complains about the Council’s actions in the late 1980s to early 1990s when she was a looked after child. She also complains about the court’s decision that three of her children should be adopted.

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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 a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. 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

5. I considered the information Miss X provided in making her complaint to the Ombudsman. I also considered the Council’s response to Miss X’s complaint in which it declined to investigate. I send Miss X a draft of my decision and invited her comments on it.

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What I found

6. Miss X complains about the Council’s actions when she was a looked after child from 1988 onwards. She also complains about the court’s decision that three of her children should be adopted.
7. Miss X considers the Council failed her both as a child and as an adult and this has had a significant impact on her life and her mental health.
8. Miss X complained to the Council about these matters in May 2019. The Council did not accept the complaint because the events complained about happened significantly longer than a year ago which is the usual time period the Council will consider via its complaints process. It said legislative and process changes may well have occurred over time leading to changes in practice. Also, due to the passage of time, records and the relevant staff were unlikely to still be available to accurately recall the events complained about. It confirmed it was also unable to consider the court’s decision that three of her children should be adopted as this was a matter for the courts.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate this complaint. The complaint lies outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction because it is late.
10. I see no good reason to exercise discretion to consider the remaining matters. This is because the difficulties the Council sets out in being able to investigate the complaint now also apply to the Ombudsman being able to properly investigate and reach a fair and reliable view now given the significant passage of time.
11. The law prevents us from investigating the decision to place Miss X’s children for adoption as this was decided in court. We have no discretion to consider this part of the complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman