Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to allegations made by the complainant’s daughter. The complaint is late and there are no grounds to consider it now.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I will refer to as Miss X, complains that the Council was at fault in its response to allegations made by her daughter.

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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. The correspondence Miss X has provided shows that Children’s Services became involved with her family in September 2023, when her daughter made an allegation. The Council and police decided to carry out a joint child protection enquiry under Section 47 of the Children Act 1989.
6. Miss X complains that the enquiry was flawed and, as a result, the decision of the Initial Child Protection Conference to make her children subject to child protection plans was based on false information and made without her input.
7. The Ombudsman will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to come to us about something a council has done. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons.
8. The Council’s response to Miss X’s complaint set out a timeline of its actions, all of which took place more than twelve months before she came to the Ombudsman. It also set out her right to come to us and the requirement to do so within twelve months of the events. The complaint about those matters is therefore late. There are no grounds for us to consider it now.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late and there are no grounds to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman