Summary: We cannot investigate Ms X’s complaint about her child’s current care arrangements as the Court is considering this. And we will not investigate her complaint about events in 2015 as there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Ms X, says the Council removed her child from her care in 2015 without her consent and is trying to do so again.

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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. 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 have the power to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been, raised within a court of law. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
5. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint and the Council’s reply which it provided. I considered Ms X’s comments on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

7. In 2015, Ms X says her child, D, then aged 15, went to live for seven weeks with a grandparent. Ms X says the Council removed D from her care and placed them with the grandparent. She says she did not consent to this and there was no Court order. She says the Council provided no financial support and she had to pay for D’s care whilst at the grandparents.
8. The Council say Ms X consented and suggested the grandparent as carer. It says Ms X complained to the Council in the Autumn of 2016 and it replied to her in November. It says it received no further complaint until 2020.
9. Ms X says the Council is now trying to remove her younger child, G, who is now 13. She says there are Court proceedings and the Court has ordered an independent social work report.

Analysis

10. We cannot look at the current care arrangements for G as the Court is considering this. We cannot look at the Council’s current views on G’s care as the Court is considering this.
11. Ms X’s complaint about the events in 2015 is more than 12 months old. I am not satisfied that there are very clear reasons to disapply the 12 month rule because:
1. I am not confident that there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision. D is now over 18 and any complaint about their care arrangements would need their consent. Any complaint about lack of financial support to the grandparent would need their consent.
2. I am not satisfied that the complainant could not reasonably be expected to have complained sooner. This is particularly so because Ms X has provided no good reasons why it took her from November 2016 to June 2020 to complain to us.

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Final decision

12. We will not and cannot investigate this complaint. This is because we cannot investigate the current care arrangements as the Court is considering this and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not be applied.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman