Cheshire West & Chester Council (25 025 623)
Category : Children's care services > Child protection
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 27 Sep 2026
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with his child. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.
The complaint
- Mr X complains the Council denied his parental rights and access to information about its intervention with his child. He is unhappy his child’s school has also excluded him from receiving information. Mr X complains he did not receive any correspondence from the Council about his child for two months. He wants an apology and for the Council to consider his complaint fully.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
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 about this matter in May 2024. A week later, the Council declined to investigate Mr X’s complaint because it had not been made within 12 months of the events occurring. The Council signposted Mr X to us if he was dissatisfied with its decision not to consider his complaint.
- We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. The more time passes between the events and a complaint, the more unlikely it is we can investigate them effectively, gather reliable evidence and reach a sound decision.
- Mr X appears to have been aware of the issues he wishes to complain for more than 12 months prior to his complaint to the Council in May 2024. Mr X also appears to have been aware of our existence and his right to escalate his complaint to us since May 2024. There appears to be no good reason why Mr X did not bring this matter to our attention sooner. Because of this, I am not persuaded we should disapply the law as set out in paragraph 2 above to investigate this complaint now.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because it is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman