Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. Some of the complaint is late. For the remainder, it was reasonable for Mrs X to ask the Council to review her complaint, there is not enough evidence of fault in its decision to close her complaint, and the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider and decide complaints about data protection.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council carried out a stage two complaint investigation in 2023 that contained inaccurate and misleading information.
2. Mrs X said this was repeated in a stage two complaint investigation in 2024. Mrs X also said her complaints were wrongly closed by the Council in 2025.
3. Mrs X said this caused frustration and distress.
4. Mrs X wants the Council to correct its records, including the stage two investigation reports. Mrs X also wants the Council to explain why it closed her complaints when matters remained unresolved.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
6. 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)
7. 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:

• it was reasonable for the person to ask for a council review or appeal; or
• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or
• there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

8. 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

9. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
10. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

11. We cannot investigate the part of Mrs X’s complaint from 2023. The complaint is late. It was reasonable to expect Mrs X to have complained to us sooner about this matter.
12. The law sets out a three-stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. The accompanying statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’, explains councils’ responsibilities in more detail. We also published practitioner guidance on the procedures, setting out our expectations.
13. The statutory children’s complaints procedure was set up to provide children, young people and those involved in their welfare with access to an independent, thorough and prompt response to their concerns. This independence is not available to complaints put through the corporate complaints procedure. Because of this, we expect people to complete the complaints procedure before we will consider whether there were any flaws in how the Council investigated their concerns.
14. We will not investigate this part of Mrs X’s complaint. It was reasonable for her to have completed the three stages of the statutory children’s complaints procedure before complaining to us.
15. ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’ states there is a 20-working day time limit from receipt of the stage two investigation outcome for a complainant to request a stage three independent review panel.
16. We will not investigate this part of Mrs X’s complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision to close Mrs X’s complaint once the statutory time limit for requesting a stage three independent review panel had lapsed.
17. The Information Commissioner (ICO) enforces data protection legislation. The main functions of the ICO are to uphold information rights in the public interest by promoting openness by public bodies and protecting the privacy of individuals.
18. We will also not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the accuracy of information the Council holds. The Council has conducted a right to rectification exercise and told Mrs X its position. The ICO is better placed to consider and decide complaints about data protection, including rectification rights. Mrs X has already complained to the ICO about the matter.

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Final decision

19. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint. Some of the complaint is late. For the remainder, it was reasonable for Mrs X to ask the Council to review her complaint, there is not enough evidence of fault in its decision to close her complaint, and the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider and decide complaints about data protection.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman