Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council's handling of historic safeguarding and child protection matters. The complaint is late and there is no good reason for us to investigate it now.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to protect her as a child in its care. She says it did not adequately respond to concerns about abuse and exploitation, failed to investigate disclosures and incidents properly, and kept inaccurate records. She also says concerns raised by others were minimised.

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)
3. 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

4. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. Miss X's complaint relates to events which occurred around 20 to 30 years ago. This is significantly outside the normal 12-month period for bringing a complaint to the Ombudsman.
7. We have considered whether there is a good reason to exercise our discretion to investigate this late complaint and do not consider there is. The complaint relates to events around 20 to 30 years ago and, given the significant passage of time, it is unlikely an investigation now could reach reliable findings.
8. The Council also considered whether to accept the complaint as a late complaint under the statutory children's complaints procedure but decided a fair and effective investigation was unlikely because of the age of the events, the limited availability of witnesses, the passage of time, and because practice and procedures have changed significantly.
9. In any event, in complaints relating to statutory children's complaints procedure, our role is to consider whether the Council followed the correct process. The Council considered whether to exercise discretion in line with the relevant guidance and I have seen no evidence it failed to take relevant factors into account when reaching its decision.
10. We will not investigate this complaint because it is late and there is no good reason for us to exercise discretion to investigate it now.
11. Miss X’s concerns about the Council’s inconsistent and inaccurate data records can be best handled by the information commissioner’s office (ICO). The ICO is a specialist body which can consider if an organisation has complied with its obligations and handled data correctly.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate because the complaint is late and there is no good reason to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman