Summary: We will not investigate this complaint that the Council have treated the complainant as a Person Posing a Risk to Children. This is because the events happened too long ago and we cannot add to the investigation already carried out by the Council.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will call Miss X, complains that she was incorrectly classified as a Person Posing a Risk to Children (PPRC) by the Council in 2011. She also complains that the PPRC remains on her children’s services file to this day and is likely to have a negative impact on the Council’s assessment of her contact arrangements with her children. Miss X wants the status removed from her file with confirmation put in writing.

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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. (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 the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the original decision for her to be classified as a PPRC. I appreciate this is an important issue for Miss X but, given the time that has passed, it is unlikely we could carry out a thorough and robust investigation into this element of her complaint.
7. I will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council’s records still show her as having PPRC status. This is because in its response to Miss X’s complaint, the Council has confirmed that Miss X does not have PPRC status. Therefore I do not consider that further investigation could add to that already carried out by the Council.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because some events happened too long ago and we could not add to the Council’s investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman