Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s actions and lack of support to her as the carer of child Y who lived with her until 2008. The complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction being made late on the 12 month rule.

The complaint

1. Complaint 1: Ms X complains the Council failed to pay her an allowance for caring for her nephew, Y, between 2004 and 2007 following a court decision granting her a residence order to care for him.
2. Complaint 2: Ms X complains the Council, in 2008, started a safeguarding investigation into her care of her nephew Y following an unfounded allegation of physical harm. She says the Council failed to properly consider relevant evidence. She says the Council caused her stress requiring a hospital admission and supported her nephew leaving her care.
3. Complaint 3: Ms X complains the Council’s records about the 2008 safeguarding investigation contain inaccurate information and give an unfair impression of her care of child Y.
4. Complaint 4: Ms X complains the Council neglected child Y and failed to resolve his immigration status following his move to the United Kingdom aged 5. She says Y, who has returned to live with her, is paying solicitors to resolve his legal status and must apply for a residence permit.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

5. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
6. 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)
7. 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

8. I have considered Ms X’s information, comments, and reply to my draft decision statement. The Council has provided complaint correspondence from 2017 and clarified its involvement with the family.

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What I found

9. Ms X says she cared for child Y between 2002 and 2008 when he moved to live with a relative. She says in 2004 she obtained a residence order at court which the Council attended.
10. The Council says it was involved with child Y from June 2007, following a safeguarding referral. It says it treated child Y as a child in need. Ms X says in August 2007 she contacted the Council for help due to child Y’s behaviour. She says the Council started to pay her a residence allowance. She complained at the time about not getting financial support in the three years since the court gave her a residence order.
11. The Council tells me Child Y was not a looked after child (i.e. not in the care of the authority) and no legal action was taken. The Council says it ended its involvement in September 2011 when child Y moved out of its area.
12. In May 2017 Ms X complained to the Council about not having an allowance until 2007, that a social worker ‘wrote a negative report against me’ regarding the care of her nephew, and that the Council had not properly considered the family circumstances. On 6 June 2017 the Council replied to the complaint. Ms X wrote to it again in October 2017. The Council says it did not deal with the complaint at stage 2 of its procedure because the communication repeated information in the original complaint and was not considered an escalation request. It has not had further contact from Ms X (or Y).

Analysis

13. I will not investigate this complaint for the following reasons:
14. Complaints 1 and 2 are outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction on the 12 month rule (see paragraph 6 above). Ms X complains late about events she knew about before September 2018. That includes financial support and the safeguarding investigation. I will not exercise discretion to investigate because Ms X could have complained at the time. Ms X says she did not know about this office, but she has had access to legal advice in the past and Ombudsman schemes are long established. Ms X has also delayed in coming to the Ombudsman following her 2017 complaint to the Council.
15. Complaint 3 – Ms X may go to the Information Commissioner if she is concerned about the accuracy of information held on her (see paragraph 7). I will not investigate the opinions of the social worker because that would involve investigating events which are outside jurisdiction on the 12 month rule, as explained above.
16. Complaint 4 – The Ombudsman does not have a complaint from Y, who is now an adult, or a consent for her to complain on his behalf about his care or immigration status. This complaint is a separate complaint and would need to be put first to the Council. If a complaint has not gone to the Council the complaint is legally premature to this office.

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Final decision

17. The Ombudsman will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s actions and lack of support to her as the carer of child Y who lived with her until 2008. The complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction being made late on the 12 month rule.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman