Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council's handling of historic 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 that the authority responsible for protecting her and her children subjected them to prolonged mistreatment. She says it removed their identities, restricted their freedom, left them without money or support, and caused lasting harm.

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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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

5. Miss X complains about events which occurred over 10 years ago. This is significantly outside the normal 12-month period for bringing a complaint to the Ombudsman.
6. We have considered whether there is a good reason to exercise our discretion to investigate this late complaint. We do not consider there is. Given the significant passage of time, it is unlikely an investigation now could reach reliable findings about the matters complained of.
7. In any event, the Council considered whether to accept the complaint under the statutory children's complaints procedure. It considered whether to exercise discretion because of the age of the complaint and decided it would not be appropriate to investigate as a fair investigation was unlikely. The Council considered the relevant provisions of the procedure, and I have seen no evidence it failed to consider the relevant factors when reaching that decision. In complaints about decisions made under the statutory children's complaints procedure, our role is to consider whether the Council followed the correct process. Based on the information available, it is unlikely we would find fault in the way the Council reached its decision.
8. 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.

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Final decision

9. 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