Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s children’s services. There is not a good reason for the delay and we could not come to sound conclusions about historical events.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained about the Council’s actions in 1987 to 1988. She said the Council took her child into care, and she felt the Council and the foster parents colluded together. She said the matter has caused her significant distress and post-traumatic stress disorder. She wanted the Council to pay her compensation.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

3. I considered information provided by the complainant.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mrs X’s complaint is about events of 1987 to 1988. The law says we cannot investigate complaints about events the person was aware of more than 12 months before bringing their complaint to us, unless there are good reasons.
6. In this case, the complaint is about events relating to Mrs X’s child. Mrs X has had plenty of opportunity to bring a complaint before now and there is not a good reason for the significant delay.
7. Even were we to accept her reasons for the delay, we could not come to sound conclusions about what happened in 1987 and 1988. The evidence we would require to investigate what happened would no longer be reliable.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because there is not a good reason for the delay and we could not come to sound conclusions about historical events

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman