Summary: Mr X complained how the Council dealt with child protection matters regarding his daughter. He also complained how the Council dealt with his complaint. He says the Council’s failings led to the breakdown of familial relationships and he lost contact with his daughter. We have ended our investigation into Mr X’s complaint because it is late, and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate it. Some of the issues Mr X has raised were also considered in court proceedings or could have been reasonably considered in court proceedings. We also do not investigate complaints handling when we are not investigating the substantive issue.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained how the Council dealt with child protection matters regarding his daughter. He says the Council failed to adequately:

• Investigate an allegation he assaulted his daughter in 2010.
• Investigate a report that he was sexually inappropriate in front of his daughter in 2013.
• Investigate an allegation that he forced his daughter to sleep with him in a sleeping bag in 2016. He says it also wrongly stated his van was unsuitable to sleep in.

2. Mr X also complained how the Council dealt with his complaint about the matter. He says the Council’s actions led to the breakdown of familial relationships and he lost contact with his daughter.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. It is our decision whether to start, and when to end an investigation into something the law allows us to investigate. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
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)
6. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we think the issues could reasonably be, or have been mentioned as part of the legal proceedings regarding a closely related matter. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information from Mr X and the Council.
8. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

9. Mr X sent a detailed complaint to the Council in December 2021 about how it handled child protection matters regarding his daughter from 2010 to 2016. The Council issued its stage two response in July 2022.
10. Mr X asked the Council to progress this complaint to stage three. The Council refused to progress the complaint. Mr X referred his complaint to the Ombudsman in July 2024.

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Analysis

11. The events Mr X complains about happened between 2010 to 2016. As he referred his complaint to us in July 2024, the restriction referred to in paragraph four of this statement applies. Mr X says he tried to complain to the Council sooner, but it refused to investigate his complaint because of ongoing court proceedings. However, the court proceedings ended in 2017. I have seen no good reason why Mr X did not make his complaint to us sooner.
12. Even if we were to find good reason to exercise discretion to investigate, several of the key staff involved in Mr X’s case have now left the Council and so it would be difficult to reach robust findings on some of the issues. The likelihood of making useful service improvements in the event we found fault is also reduced as the Council’s policies will have changed since 2010 to 2016 in response to current standards, guidance, and professional expectations. Some of Mr X’s complaint also concerns the content of the Council’s reports which have been presented in family court proceedings. The law prevents us from investigating such complaints. Mr X could have also reasonably raised some of his concerns during court proceedings as he was party to the proceedings.
13. Mr X is also unhappy with the Council’s handling of his complaint. It is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are not dealing with the substantive issue. That is the case here.

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Final decision

14. I have ended my investigation. Mr X’s complaint is late, and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to investigate it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman