Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about historical involvement with the Council and its children’s social care services. This is because the complaint is late, and there are no good reasons Mrs X could not have complained sooner. In addition, many of the matters complained about have been raised during court proceedings and the law says we cannot investigate those matters.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s children’s services involvement regarding her family between 2015 and 2022.
2. Mrs X says the matters complained about caused her distress, frustration, and financial hardship.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
4. 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)
5. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered information provided by the complainant.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mrs X wrote to the Council and complained about historical involvement with its children’s social care services.
9. In March 2024, the Council told Mrs X it would not consider her complaints because the matters complained about occurred over seven years ago. It explained staff Mrs X complained about no longer work for the Council, and it could see no evidence why Mrs X could not have complained sooner.

Analysis

10. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the matters complained about are over 12-months old and the complaint is late. The law says we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. I have seen no reason why Mrs X could not have brought her complaints to the Council, or the Ombudsman, sooner. Therefore, I will not exercise discretion to investigate the complaint.
11. In addition, many of the matters complained about by Mrs X were considered during court proceedings. These included the content of professional reports, comments made by professionals during court proceedings, and other related matters. The law says we cannot investigate matters which have been considered during court proceedings. Therefore, even if we did exercise discretion to investigate the late complaint, we would be unable to investigate any matter already considered by the courts, or what happened during court proceedings.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there is no good reason Mrs X could not have complained sooner, and because much of the complaint is about matters considered in court.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman