London Borough of Southwark (21 004 958)

Category : Children's care services > Child protection

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 25 Aug 2021

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the complainant has been treated by the Council in relation to her child. This is because it is a late complaint.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I refer to as Ms X, says the Council has been harassing her and manipulating her to try to remove her child.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
  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)

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How I considered this complaint

  1. I considered information provided by Ms X. This includes the Council’s response to her complaint in 2018. I considered our Assessment Code and invited Ms X to comment on a draft of this decision.

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My assessment

  1. In 2018 Ms X complained to the Council about events that occurred from 2016 in relation to the Council’s involvement with her and her child. The Council responded to the complaint in November 2018. Ms X told us she has not made any more complaints to the Council since 2018.
  2. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint. Ms X is complaining about events from before 2018 and I have not seen any reason to investigate such a late complaint.

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Final decision

  1. I will not start an investigation because this is a late complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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