Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mrs X’s historical allegations of failures by the Council’s social services. This is because the complaint is late, there are no good reasons Mrs X could not have complained sooner, and an investigation is unlikely to reach a sound, meaningful or fair outcome.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council refused to investigate her complaint about the abuse she suffered as a child. Mrs X says that despite reporting the abuse the Council’s social services failed to protect her.
2. Mrs X says these failures have had a lasting impact on her into adulthood.

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

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My assessment

7. In 2019 Mrs X secured her files from the Council after putting in a subject access request. When it shared the information, the Council told Mrs X she had 12 months to make a complaint about the contents.
8. In September 2025 Mrs X complained to the Council. She said it had failed to safeguard her during childhood, and this had caused deep and lasting harm. The Council responded saying it would not investigate because Mrs X had made her complaint outside the 1-year timeframe for making a complaint as outlined in their children’s complaint policy.
9. The Council recognised it could consider complaints in exceptional circumstances; however, it said due to the length of time involved it would not be right to investigate Mrs X’s complaint under the formal complaint’s process. The Council apologised for any distress and inconvenience to Mrs X and signposted her to independent legal advice to explore alternatives.
10. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because it is late. The Council told Mrs X about the 1-year timeframe for making a complaint in 2019 and there is no good reason for her not to have complained sooner. I considered whether there were good reasons to exercise discretion to disapply the time limit. Given the age of the events, we would likely be unable to complete a fair and conclusive investigation. It is also unlikely we could provide any meaningful remedy, as it becomes harder to link current injustice directly to historic actions. In many circumstances, standards or guidance have also since changed making it difficult to recommend tangible service improvements.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to consider her complaint regarding historical allegations of social services failures. This is because the complaint is late and, given the passage of time, we do not consider there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair and meaningful decision.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman