Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s failures in dealing with her during 2018 and 2019 when a foster child was moving from children’s services to adults’ services. The complaint is late and there is no good reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Ms X said there were failings in how the Council dealt with her during 2018 and 2019 when a foster child was moving from children’s services to adults’ services.

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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 provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I read Ms X’s complaint. I gave her an opportunity to comment on a draft decision.
5. The child has made a separate complaint about the same matters affecting him. We will consider his complaint separately in case 21 002 648.

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What I found

6. Ms X fostered a child with disabilities. She complains of failings in the way the Council planned for and organised his transition from children’s services to adults’ services, causing her to have to chase constantly.
7. The Council has declined to consider her complaint, which concerns matters that happened two to three years ago.
8. We have discretion to consider late complaints, but we will only do so if there is a good reason. Sometimes a person is unaware of an old matter until much later. And sometimes a person is prevented from complaining, perhaps because they were a child at the time of the events, or a council has made a complaint late by taking a long time dealing with the complaint. In such cases, we are likely to accept the late complaint.
9. I am aware from an earlier conversation with Ms X that looking after a disabled child is time consuming. But Ms X was aware in 2019 of the matters complained of. And she contacted other bodies when she was dissatisfied with the Council. An internet search would have shown we deal with complaints about councils and that a telephone call is sufficient to make a complaint.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the matters complained of are late and there is no good reason to investigate them now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman