Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about events in 2017. There are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply. And the Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider a complaint about the Council holding inaccurate information.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council’s children services actions in 2017. And she says the Council holds inaccurate information about her.

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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 normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
5. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word 'fault' to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe there is another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the information Ms X provided with her complaint which included the Council’s reply. Ms X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

7. Ms X complains about various officers’ actions in 2017. At the time the Council’s children services team considered a child protection case involving an extended family member. We considered a previous complaint from Ms X about the Council’s assessment on her related to this. The Courts ultimately decided the child’s care arrangements.
8. Ms X says that in 2020, documents disclosed during new Court proceedings, showed the Council had made more errors than she had previously thought and that it held inaccurate information about her and a child she cares for.
9. Ms X complained to the Council. It said: Ms X had the chance to question the Council’s actions during the 2017 court proceedings; she had complained since and had the chance within those complaint procedures to raise these issues; and events were now too old.

Analysis

10. We should not investigate complaints which are about events known to Ms X for more than 12 months old unless there are good reasons to do so. Here I do not believe there are because:
1. It is reasonable to expect Ms X to have complained in 2017 if the Council’s actions or inaction meant she had been harmed or disadvantaged. She did not need to know the detail of how or why, just that she was not getting the services she should.
2. We cannot investigate anything about the care of the children involved as that has been determined by the Courts.
3. We cannot investigate her allegation that the Council gave the Courts inaccurate information. We have no power to investigate the accuracy of documents given to a Court which it uses to make its decision.
4. I am not confident that there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision.
11. Ms X has recently discovered the Council may have documents which hold inaccurate information about her and a child she cares for. The Data Protection Acts gives her a ‘right to rectification’ for any factual errors in documents the Council holds. If the Council does not comply with her request, she can complain to the Information Commissioner (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to decide data protection disputes and it is the better placed body to consider Ms X’s complaint about the Council holding inaccurate information.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because part of her complaint is too old and there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply. There is another body better placed to consider the inaccurate information complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman