Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint that the Council failed to respond to safeguarding referrals it received in 2019. The complaint is late with no good reason to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to respond to safeguarding referrals it received in 2019. She also complains the Council mishandled her complaint and allowed a manager who was the subject of her complaint to investigate and respond to it.
2. Miss X says the matter caused her distress, uncertainty and undermined her family’s safety. She wants the Council to provide a meaningful remedy for its failures.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I considered information provided by Miss X and the Council.
6. I also considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

7. The evidence I have seen shows the Council considered Miss X’s complaint under all three stages of the statutory process for children social care complaints in 2022. It accepted that it did not respond to the referrals it received in 2019 and acknowledged that the manager subject of Miss X’s complaint should not have been involved in responding to her complaint. The Council apologised for its errors and advised it would implement its learnings. The Council also asked Miss X for more information about the compensation and counselling she wanted as a remedy to her complaint, so it could consider this further. It then told Mrs X she could complain to us if she was dissatisfied with its response.
8. The Council has told us it has not heard from Miss X about this matter in the last 12 months. We expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. The matters Miss X complains of are late. If Miss X was dissatisfied with the Council’s response then it would have been reasonable for her to complain to us at the time. I see no good reason for the delay in complaining to us and therefore I will not investigate her complaint.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because it is late with no good reason to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman