Summary: Mr X complained about the Council’s children’s services actions since early 2018, relating to allegations against him. We will not investigate this late complaint, because there is not a good reason Mr X did not complain sooner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s actions since early 2018. He says it did not notify him of allegations against him made by children he was fostering, did not complete its section 47 enquiry and did not provide any information or reports to him. The children were removed from his care and he was not given the opportunity to respond to the allegations.

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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)
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the council knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the council of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided to us when he complained.
5. I considered the information we hold on file for a separate complaint from Mr X.
6. I considered information the Council provided.
7. I considered Mr X’s comments on my draft decision.

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What I found

8. The Council placed three children in foster care with Mr X and his partner. In January 2018, the Council was made aware of an allegation one of the children made. The Council removed the children from Mr X’s care. Mr X says he was not interviewed as part of the Council’s enquiry.
9. In April 2018, the Council’s safeguarding enquiry finished and the police told Mr X the nature of some of the allegations against him. Mr X knew the nature of all allegations against him by June 2018. Mr X received a copy of the Council’s safeguarding enquiry report in November 2018.
10. Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until January 2020. However, he had not yet completed the Council’s internal complaints procedures. We asked him to do so as it was reasonable to give the Council the opportunity to comment. Mr X complained again to the Council in April 2020. In September, the Council told him it would not investigate his complaint, and Mr X then contacted us again.
11. We must start with the presumption we will not investigate a complaint if it is brought to us more than 12 months after events. Mr X had enough information to make his complaint by November 2018, if not sooner. When he did complain to the Council, it was responsible for some of the time it then took for him to be able to bring his complaint back to us. However, the Council was responsible for a small part of the delay between November 2018 and September 2020, and Mr X has not provided a reason for the remaining delay. There is not a good reason he did not complain sooner and we should not now exercise discretion to consider his complaint.

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Final decision

12. The Ombudsman will not investigate this late complaint. This is because there is not a good reason Mr X did not complain sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman