Oxfordshire County Council (25 024 177)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 16 Jun 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s response to concerns he raised about his son in 2023. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council did not properly respond to concerns he raised in 2023 that his son had been physically assaulted by his mother. He says the Council did not speak to his son about it and it did not report the matter to the police.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
- 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)
- We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- Mr X complained to the Council, in early 2026, about its response to concerns he raised in 2023 that his son had been physically assaulted by his mother.
- The Council told Mr X it would not consider his complaint because it was about matters that were more than 12 months old.
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late. The law says a complaint should be made to us within 12 months of the person first becoming aware of the matter. I see no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider this late complaint now.
- Mr X says the Council’s handling of the matter led to it being brushed over in the family court. The law prevents us from investigating complaints about matters that have been considered in court. We have no discretion to do so.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint. It lies outside our jurisdiction because it is late and there are no good grounds to exercise discretion to consider it now. It also appears the matter has been considered in the family court. If so, the law says we have no discretion to consider it.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman