Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council’s involvement in Miss X’s case when she was a child, and its response when she attempted to complain at an earlier date. We could not carry out a fair investigation now due to the passage of time.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained about abuse she said she experienced while a child in foster care between the mid-1980s and early 2000s. She said the Council:
• dissuaded her from accessing her records and complaining in the early 2000s, after she had turned 18;
• failed to take action when she raised concerns with it about a former foster carer in the mid-2000s; and
• refused to investigate her complaint in 2026.
2. Miss X said the matter had caused significant distress, and the Council’s actions had compounded the emotional impact of the original events. She wanted the Council to reconsider its decision not to investigate the matter. She also wanted answers and apologies.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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

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

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My assessment

6. We will not normally investigate a complaint about matters the person was aware of more than 12 months before complaining to us. When we receive a late complaint, we will consider whether there was good reason for the delay and whether we could realistically come to sound conclusions given the time that has passed.
7. Miss X was a child at the time of events, so I accept she could not have complained in the 1980s to the early 2000s. She says she tried to complain after turning 18 in the early 2000s but was dissuaded by a social worker. I have also considered the emotional impact of the events she says happened, and the impact this would have had on her ability to complain. There may be times in the last 20 years where we would consider it would have been reasonable for Miss X to complain.
8. However, in any event we could not carry out a fair investigation now into the events Miss X says happened between the mid-1980s and mid-2000s.
9. 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. In older cases we also may not be able to achieve a meaningful remedy because too many circumstances have changed. We are often unable to be able to show why events occurred or understand who was responsible.
10. We will not investigate the complaint Miss X brought about historical events.
11. It is also not a good use of public resources to investigate complaints about complaint procedures, if we are unable to deal with the substantive issue. We will therefore not investigate the Council’s complaint-handling in 2026 in isolation.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Miss X’s late complaint because we could not come to sound conclusions on historical events now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman