Summary: We will not investigate Mr Z’s complaint about how the Council dealt with matters concerning his time in care. This is because it is made late and I see no good reason why it could not have been made sooner.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains on behalf of her son Mr Z about how the Council dealt with matters relating to Mr Z’s time in care.

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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 the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Mrs X has submitted complaints to the Council and then the Ombudsman. We previously considered them but only considered how the issues affected her. This is because Mr Z is no longer a child and did not provide consent for Mrs X to bring his complaints to us or the Council on his behalf.
7. Mr Z has now provided consent for Mrs X to act on his behalf in regard to these matters. However, I will not investigate his complaint as the issues raised happened too long ago and I see no good reason why he could not have either complained to the Council sooner, or provided consent for Mrs X to have acted on his behalf sooner.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr Z’s complaint because it is made late.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman