Nottinghamshire County Council (25 026 362)
Category : Children's care services > Adoption
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 26 Jul 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council's handling of an adoption assessment and its subsequent refusal to investigate her concerns because it considered them to be late. The complaint is late, and there is not a good reason for us to consider it now.
The complaint
- Miss X complains about the conduct of an adoption assessment in 2022. She says she was subjected to intrusive and retraumatising questioning, and that the assessment included a request to contact her abusive former partner. She also says the Council refused to investigate her complaint because it considered it historical, without properly taking account of the seriousness of the concerns raised or the impact of trauma on her ability to complain sooner.
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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Miss X complains about the Council’s handling of an adoption assessment in 2022. Miss X has therefore been aware of the matters she now complains about for around four years.
- Miss X says the assessment caused significant distress and that it took time for her to begin the recovery process. I have taken this into account.
- However, I have not seen sufficient evidence to show Miss X could not reasonably have complained to us sooner. We have not seen evidence of a level of illness or incapacity that prevented her from pursuing a complaint for such a prolonged period.
- We will not investigate because the complaint was brought to us significantly more than 12 months after the events complained about and there is not a good reason to exercise discretion.
- It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue.
Final decision
- We will not investigate because the complaint is late and there is no good reason to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman