Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council failed to safeguard him from harm when he was a child. This is because, given the passage of time, we do not consider there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair and meaningful decision.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about the quality of support provided to him by the Council’s Children’s Services team when he was a child in care. He says the Council failed to safeguard him as a child and act on concerns raised at the time.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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 Mr X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mr X made a complaint to the Council about historical issues dating back to at least 2006. The Council met with Mr X to understand his experience and then responded to him. The Council explained that it could not investigate any further due to the passage of time.
7. While I recognise the issues raised by Mr X, the restriction outlined in paragraph 3 inserts a time limit for a member of the public to bring their complaint to the attention of the Ombudsman. Its intention is two-fold: to provide us with the best opportunity of arriving at a robust, evidence-based decision on complaints and to ensure fairness by enabling us to decline an investigation into historic matters, which could and should have formed the basis of a complaint far sooner.
8. I considered whether there are any good reasons to exercise our discretion and disapply the time limit referred to. It is my view however there would be practical limitations on our ability to investigate now and we could not achieve a meaningful conclusion or remedy.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about historical issues. Given the passage of time, we do not consider there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman