Summary: I will not investigate this complaint about what happened when the complainant was taken into care in 1974. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise the Ombudsman’s discretion to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Mr X, says that the Council:
• Unjustly took him into care in 1974;
• Allowed him to be abused whilst in care;
• Did not take his medical condition into account;
• Has now unjustly refused to investigate his complaint about this matter.

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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 has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
4. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), 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 we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I have considered the information provided by Mr X, and by the Council. I have also sent Mr X a draft decision for his comments.

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What I found

7. As a child in 1974, Mr X was removed from his parents and placed in care. During that time, he says he was abused, and no account was taken of the lasting effects of meningitis.
8. Mr X complained to the Council in 2020 when he became aware of some of the circumstances of his being removed from his parents. The Council has told him it cannot take the matter through its complaints procedure because it is made late.
9. Mr X has now brought the complaint to the LGSCO, but we will not investigate it. This is because it is made late. The legislation quoted above states that we cannot investigate matters that the complainant knew about more than 12 months ago, unless there are good reasons to exercise discretion to do so.
10. I have considered carefully whether there are good reasons to investigate this complaint now, as Mr X raises serious issues that have affected his life.
11. However, although I appreciate that Mr X was not able to complain about what was happening to him while he was a child, and says he has only recently become aware of some of the decisions made by the Council, I do not consider that an investigation by the LGSCO can achieve the outcomes that Mr X wants.
12. This is because despite some records still being available, we have no means of testing their accuracy or the accuracy of Mr X’s childhood recollections. There are no staff for us to question, and we are not able to judge actions which were in line with the current policies, by today’s standards. We would therefore not be able to come to an evidence based decision about the events and who was responsible for them.
13. Additionally, Mr X would like compensation for what he argues was a breach to his Human Rights. This is not something that we can achieve, as it is a decision for the courts to make.
14. Mr X complains that the Council is covering up the past in its refusal to put this matter through its complaints procedure, but it has explained that is unable to do so for similar reasons to those that have led to my view.
15. Consequently, despite my sympathy for Mr X’s position, I do not feel there are good reasons for us to investigate this complaint now.

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Final decision

16. Subject to any comments Mr X might make, my view is we should not investigate this complaint. This is because it is made late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman