Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of temporarily placing a child into Ms X’s care. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained a child was temporarily placed in her care in May 2023 and the Council did this unprofessionally and did not pay her an allowance as agreed.
2. Ms X said this has caused a financial strain.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
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)
5. 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 not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

8. Ms X complained the Council acted unprofessionally in its decision to temporarily place a child in her care in May 2023. Ms X also said the Council did not pay her the agreed allowances for the time she cared for the child.
9. Ms X raised her complaint to the Council about this matter in June 2025. The Council said because the matters occurred over 12 months ago it would not consider the complaint. It is unlikely we would find fault in how the Council decided not to consider Ms X’s complaint.
10. As outlined in paragraph 4, we cannot investigate late complaints unless a person demonstrates good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it.
11. I have considered the available information and while I acknowledge Ms X's comments about why she did not feel able to raise these matters sooner, they do not displace the expectation in law that we will not investigate late complaints. Therefore, we will not investigate this complaint.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman