Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions when it deregistered Mr X as a foster carer. Parts of Mr X’s complaint are late and there is another body better suited to consider the other parts of his complaint.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with him when it decided he was not suitable to be a foster carer in 2021 and 2022. He said the social worker’s assessments were false and misleading, and its decision to deregister him was wrong.
2. Mr X wants the Council to reconsider its decision.

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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)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. 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 another body better placed to consider this complaint.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. In 2021, Mr X told us the Council interviewed him in relation to his role as a foster carer and then completed an assessment on him. He said in 2022 a fostering panel considered the assessment.
8. In December 2022 the Council’s Agency Decision Maker (ADM) considered Mr X’s case and decided to de-register him as a foster carer.
9. Mr X said he believed the Council’s assessment about him in 2022 was false and misleading. We will not investigate this part of Mr X’s complaint because it is late and I have not seen any good reasons why he could not have complained to us about this sooner.
10. Mr X said the ADM made its decision on false and misleading information and he wants the Council to reconsider this decision. The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) can make recommendations to the Council about this and because of this it is a body that is better placed to consider his complaint here.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate this complaint because parts of Mr X’s complaint is late and the other parts would be better considered by another body.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman