London Borough of Ealing (21 003 668)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 28 Jul 2021
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council’s children’s services handled a child protection case involving the complainants child. This is because the events happened too long ago.
The complaint
- The complainant, who I will call Mr C, complains about the actions of the Council’s children’s services when it dealt with a child protection case involving his child. Mr C says inaccurate information about him was provided to the Council, but he was not given the opportunity to dispute it.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered Mr C’s complaint and the Council’s responses.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council’s children’s services became involved with child protection matters relation to Mr C’s child. It completed it’s enquiries and closed its case in February 2019.
- I will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with these matters, because the events happened too long ago, and I see no reason why Mr C could not have complained sooner.
Final decision
I will not investigate Mr C’s complaint because the events happened too long ago.
Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman