Summary: The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide adequate support to a young person leaving care. This is because the complaint is made late and there are no good reasons to investigate the matter now as the Ombudsman could not achieve the outcome wanted in any event.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I refer to here as Miss X, says that the Council:
1. Failed to provide adequate financial support when she left local authority care.
2. Failed to provide adequate support for her mental and physical health needs.
2. She says this led to significant distress, a deterioration in her health and financial hardship.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• we cannot achieve the outcome someone wants, or

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

4. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
5. 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

6. I considered the information provided by Miss X and the Council. I have sent a draft version of this decision to both parties to comment upon before I reached my final decision.

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What I found

7. The Children (Leaving Care Act) 2000 requires councils to keep in touch with care leavers for a prescribed period and provide support in the form of a pathway plan, personal advisor and general assistance as required.
8. The law sets out a three stage procedure for councils to follow when looking at complaints about children’s social care services. At stage 2 of this procedure, the Council appoints an Independent Investigator and an Independent Person (who is responsible for overseeing the investigation). If a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of the stage 2 investigation, they can ask for a stage 3 review within 20 days.
9. When Miss X left care, she was supported by the Council’s “Future First” team that had responsibility for providing assistance to young care leavers.
10. Miss X successfully obtained a university degree and went on to study for a post graduate qualification. During her time at university, Miss X suffered with both physical and mental health problems. Despite being provided with some support by Future First, Miss X said it was inadequate.
11. In April 2018, she complained to the Council. Her complaint was investigated under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. Her complaint was partially upheld at stage 2. She was notified of this in September 2018.
12. Miss X did not respond until July 2019 when she asked for her complaint to be escalated to stage 3. The Council refused because the role of the stage 3 panel was limited to reviewing the actions and decisions of the stage 2 investigation. The Council said her request for a stage 3 panel essentially raised new complaints or were complaints that had already been addressed at stage 2.
13. In March 2020, Miss X brought her complaint to the Ombudsman.

Analysis

14. We will not investigate the complaint. This is because we cannot investigate complaints about matters known to the complainant more than 12 months previously, unless there are good reasons to do so.
15. In this case, Miss X complained to the Council in 2018, so she clearly knew about the issues at this time. She took ten months to lodge her objection to the stage 2 investigation and a further seven months to complain to the Ombudsman.
16. The relevant guidance says that councils should tell complainants they have 20 days to respond to the stage 2 investigation. While the Council did not tell Miss X that she had 20 days to reply, she should have complained sooner that she did. Ten months was too long.
17. Consequently, the complaint to the Ombudsman was made late, and I see no good reasons to investigate it now. Miss X could have come to us at any point since September 2018.
18. Additionally, it is unlikely that we would be able to add anything to the Council’s stage two investigation outcome or provide the remedy sought by Miss X. She has requested the Council pay her a significant amount of money that she says she was denied during the time the Council provided support under its statutory obligations to young care leavers. The Council has explained why no more financial support is owed to her and the Ombudsman could not add anything further to this.

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Final decision

19. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint. This is because it is made late and there are no good reasons to investigate it now.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman