Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when Mr X fled domestic abuse from his ex-partner in 2016. This is because the events complained of happened too long ago for us to be able to carry out a fair investigation.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council failed to provide him and children with support when they fled domestic abuse from his ex-partner. Mr X says that this caused the family significant distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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 considered information provided by the complainant and his representatives.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X left his ex-wife due to domestic abuse in 2016. The Council was involved with Mr X and his children in 2016 and 2017.
7. Mr X complained to the Council in 2021 about what happened. The Council responded to Mr X on 17 June 2021 and said it would not investigate his complaint because the events complained of happened too long ago for it investigate the complaint “efficiently and effectively”.
8. Mr X complained to the Ombudsman on 16 June 2022.
9. Mr X may not have been aware of some of the events in 2016 and 2017 until he had an opportunity to review his records more recently. Therefore we cannot say that this is a late complaint.
10. However, the events complained of happened five years ago. Whilst records from the time will exist it is likely that practices and procedures will have changed within the Council as well as changes in how the law is applied. The Council has already said it no longer employs one of the social workers involved. Furthermore Mr X’s personal circumstances have changed in the period between the matters complained of and his complaint to us. Therefore it would be difficult to reach a view on what, if any injustice can be directly attributed to the actions of the Council.
11. Taking this into account we would not be able to carry out a fair investigation into Mr X’s complaint and so we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we cannot carry out a fair investigation into what happened given the time that has passed since the matters complained of.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman