Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s contact with X’s family, including the Council’s decision not to investigate that complaint. There is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council decided not to investigate. And a complaint to us about these matters is now late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. X complained about the Council’s involvement with their family, including child safeguarding failures, education failures and a failure to properly consult with them as a parent. X also complained the Council was wrong to have refused to accept their complaint. X now wants the Council to investigate their complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
3. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. 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

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

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My assessment

7. X complained to the Council in June 2026. They raised several matters relating to the Councils involvement with their family, principally between 2021 and 2023. The Council declined to take X’s complaint because many of the complaint issues they raised to it, happened more than 12 months from the time that X complained to it. X then complained to us.
8. The children’s statutory complaint procedure allows the Council to decline to take a complaint about matters which have occurred more than 12 months before a complaint was raised with it. It can do so, provided it explains its reasons why it has decided this, and does so on a case-by-case basis. The Council wrote to X and explained its reasons for declining to take a complaint in their case.
9. Unless there is an obvious flaw in the way the Council made a decision, because of the limitations on our powers as I have highlighted at paragraph two, we would not criticise a decision the Council made, or replace it with our own. I take account of the reasons the Council gave to X, about why it would not carry out an investigation and the evidence suggests it properly considered its discretion here. Consequently, it is unlikely we would find fault in the way it made its decision.
10. I have also considered whether there are good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider X's complaint. The law, explained in paragraph three, says we should not investigate late complaints. I have not seen evidence of good reasons to exercise discretion to consider X’s complaint and so we will not investigate.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate X’s complaint because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision not to investigate and the complaint to us is late and there are no good reasons to exercise discretion to consider it.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman