Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions following his adopted daughter’s allegations against him. This is because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained in 2023 his adopted daughter was making allegations against him and the Council did not investigate, along with other issues.
2. In September 2025 Mr X said these allegations were continuing and asked the Council to investigate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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

6. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council.
7. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

8. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint (see paragraph 1) in September 2023, and signposted Mr X to the Ombudsman.
9. Mr X told his social worker about further allegations in September 2025. The social worker raised this as a complaint. Mr X said it was not his intention to raise a complaint so the Council closed its file.
10. Mr X then said he wanted to escalate this as a complaint as he felt his 2023 complaint was left unanswered and it was about the same ongoing situation with his adopted daughter.
11. The Council said his complaint had the same substantive issues as his 2023 complaint and rejected it due to it being late.
12. The law says people must complain to us within 12 months of becoming aware of the matter unless there are good reasons. I have seen no good reasons why Mr X could not have brought his concerns to us sooner, so I will not exercise discretion to investigate.
13. Following the 2025 complaint the Council said it did not see his adopted daughter had raised any allegations that required investigation. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome as we cannot direct the Council. Our role is limited to checking the Council made its decision properly.

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Final decision

14. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman