Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s child protection team’s involvement in his family. There are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, complains about the Council’s children services involvement in his family. He says he has no contact with his children.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the information Mr X provided. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on a draft version of this decision.

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What I found

5. Mr X says:
• The Council changed a Court contact order in 2011;
• Council officers did not protect his children and took incorrect action against him before 2017;
• The Council issued an incorrect court report in 2010/1.
6. Mr X says he wants the contact order, setting out when and how he can see his children, changed.

Analysis

7. Mr X’s complaint is caught by the late complaint rule. We should not dis-apply this rule because:
1. I am not confident that there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision. This is particularly so because:
1. We cannot investigate the preparation, collation, and analysis of evidence, including reports written by social workers or other officers for court proceedings and evidence given by council officers in any proceedings.
2. We cannot change the Court order as Mr X wants,

And

2. I am not satisfied that Mr X could not reasonably be expected to have complained sooner. This is particularly so because:
1. We considered and decided a complaint about the Council’s child protection actions in 2014. We cannot consider the same issues again.
2. Mr X complained to us in 2017 but then took three years to provide the information requested from him.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because as there are no good reasons why the late complaint rule should not apply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman