Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s children’s services involvement with his family. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now. We will not investigate Mr X’s further complaint about delays in the Council responding to a subject access request and correcting inaccurate records. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider these matters.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about the Council’s children’s services involvement with his child (Y). Mr X said the Council did not protect Y from harm.
2. Mr X also complained about delays in the Council responding to a subject access request (SAR) and said the Council held incorrect records about him.
3. Mr X said the Council did not properly consider his complaint and the matters caused him distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
6. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
8. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

9. Mr X said the Council investigated his concerns about its children’s services team in 2023. He said in December 2023 a manager of the team visited his home and said failings had been found in Y’s case.
10. Mr X said he submitted a SAR in November 2024 to get information he needed to escalate his complaint. Mr X said the Council did not respond. In November 2025, Mr X contacted the Council to escalate his complaint, however it refused to consider it further.
11. Mr X also complained to the Ombudsman in November 2025.
12. As outlined in paragraph four, we cannot investigate late complaints without good reasons. A late complaint is where a person has had notice of the matter they complain about for more than 12 months.
13. The available evidence shows Mr X was aware of his children’s services concerns since before December 2023. I have seen no good reasons why Mr X could not have complained to the Ombudsman sooner and therefore we will not investigate this part of his complaint.
14. Mr X also complained about a delay in the Council responding to his SAR and that the Council hold inaccurate information about him in its records. Mr X wants the Council to provide its SAR response and to amend its records.
15. Mr X has the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Parliament set up the ICO to consider data protection disputes which includes delays SAR responses and ‘right to rectification’ disputes. The ICO is better placed than the Ombudsman to consider if the Council has caused undue delay in responding to Mr X’s SAR, or if it should change its records. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.
16. Finally, it is not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. Therefore, we will not investigate how the Council considered Mr X’s complaint.

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Final decision

17. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because part of the complaint is late and part of it is better placed with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman