Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to take action to protect him from abuse while he was a child. We will not continue to investigate his complaint. This is because it is not possible, so long after the relevant events, to carry out a fair investigation, reach any safe conclusions or achieve a meaningful outcome for Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council’s Children’s Services failed to take action to protect him from abuse while he was a child. This failure has had a very significant impact on him. He does not want other children to go through what happened to him.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I spoke to Mr X and read the information he provided about the complaint.
5. I invited Mr X and the Council to comment on a draft version of this decision. I considered their responses before making my final decision.

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What I found

What happened

6. Mr X has told us he was abused by a parent while he was a child. Despite the involvement of the Council’s Children’s Services and the police, the Council failed to take action to protect him. In 2006, when he was 16, his family moved away to another area and abandoned him.
7. He has experienced significant difficulties since then. Mr X has provided us with evidence about his issues over many years with trauma, mental health conditions and substance misuse.
8. He has only recently been able to process what happened to him when he was a child and the Council’s role in this. He became aware he had grounds for complaint against the Council, after obtaining advice about his position, at the end of November 2021.
9. He complained to the Council in December 2021. The Council said its Children’s Services’ last involvement with him was in 2006. It declined to investigate his complaint because more than 12 months had passed since then. Mr X then brought his complaint about the Council to us.

My findings

Background

10. We are a publicly funded body and must be careful about how we use our resources. We do not investigate all the complaints we receive and have discretion as to whether to investigate any complaint brought to us.
11. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person becoming aware something has gone wrong. We will not investigate a complaint brought to us after this time, unless we consider there are good reasons why it was not brought earlier.
12. And our guidance says we should only accept a case involving historic allegations of fault where we are confident there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision.
13. Complaints about events which took place more than a year ago can be difficult to investigate because:

• the further away in time an investigation takes place from the events complained about, the harder it is to establish the material facts with confidence. In older cases, we are less likely to be able to gather sufficient evidence to reach a sound judgment. Even if some evidence is available, we need to be careful to ensure it is reliable and does not provide only a partial picture of what happened.
• in many cases we cannot apply current standards, guidance, or professional expectations to historical situations. Procedures and processes will have changed, and new legislation introduced.
• in historical cases, given the length of time that has already passed, it is likely to be more difficult to achieve a meaningful remedy. It is also difficult to establish causality over longer time periods – it can be difficult to say what impact any fault had – and how we should remedy any injustice.

Mr X’s complaint

14. Mr X complains about events which happened before 2006. Some officers working for the Council at the time will have left and it may not be possible to locate them. And even if staff are still working with the Council or can be located their recollections of events which took place over 16 years ago will have faded with time.
15. In addition to the difficulties in establishing what happened and whether there was fault by the Council, given the length of time which has passed, even if we found fault, I do not consider we could achieve a meaningful remedy for Mr X now. The Council’s Children’s Services procedures and processes will have changed since 2006 in response to current standards.
16. I do not underestimate the impact of the abuse Mr X experienced while a child. He has told us he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I fully understand why this, together with his other difficulties with mental illness, trauma, and substance misuse, may have prevented him from complaining sooner.
17. But although there are good reasons why he was not able to do so, because so much time has passed and as explained above, my view it is not possible now for us to carry out a fair investigation of Mr X’s complaint, reach any safe conclusions and achieve a meaningful outcome for him.

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Final decision

18. For the reasons set out above, I have discontinued my investigation into this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman