Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about Council officers’ decision-making and behaviour before his children’s adoption in 2022. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains about poor decision-making and dishonest behaviour by Council officers in its children’s services. He says their actions placed his children at risk, affected his parental rights and led to the adoption of his children in 2022. Mr X complains the Council’s decisions were affected by gender bias and failed to consider his experience of domestic abuse or provide adequate support.
2. Mr X also complains about statements made against him by several Council officers in a recent court case.

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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 and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. Mr X complains about actions of Council officers in its children’s services between 2020 and 2022. This complaint is late, as Mr X did not complain to the Ombudsman until March 2025. I have considered Mr X’s reasons for the delay in complaining, but I consider he could have complained to us much sooner. Mr X received a final complaint response from the Council about some of the matters complained of in August 2022. This included clear signposting to the Ombudsman. There are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion.
9. We cannot investigate Mr X’s more recent complaint about statements made by Council officers during a court case. This is because it is about something that happened in court and so we have no jurisdiction.

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Final decision

10. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about Council officers’ decision-making and behaviour before his children’s adoption in 2022. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman