Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about historical allegations of abuse. There are no good reasons the late complaint rule should not apply.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mr X, says the Council covered up abuse suffered at a children’s home. He says it failed to investigate his complaint about racist treatment of his family and deliberately withheld services to his family.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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

3. I considered the information Mr X provided with his complaint and the Council’s replies to him which it provided. Mr X had the opportunity to comment on this draft version.

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What I found

4. The Council’s children services team were involved with Mr X’s extended family from the 1980’s to 1999. In August 2018, he complained to the Council about this. He said he believed family members had been abused and harmed while in care. He believed the Council had racially discriminated against his extended family. He says it failed to investigate his complaints.
5. The Council says it met with Mr X in August 2018. It appointed officers to investigate his complaints. It says Mr X cancelled meetings to discuss his complaints in January 2019. It says it has not heard from Mr X since.

Analysis

6. We should not disapply the 12 month rule unless we have clear reasons for doing so. Here we do not because:
1. I am not confident there is a realistic prospect of reaching a sound, fair, and meaningful decision. This is because:
1. Of the great length of time since the events and Mr X complaining,
2. we are less likely to be able to gather enough evidence to reach a sound judgement,
3. even if some evidence is available, it is unlikely it would be reliable, and provide a full picture,
4. it is more difficult to achieve a meaningful remedy, given the time that has already passed, the difficulty in proving causality over longer time periods, and changes in the situation of the parties, and,
5. Mr X does not appear to be the person most directly affected. We usually only consider complaints from those directly affected.

And

2. I am not satisfied Mr X could not reasonably be expected to have complained sooner. There is a significant delay between the Council’s last contact with Mr X and him complaining to us.

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Final decision

7. We will not investigate this complaint. This is because there are no good reasons the late complaint rule should not apply.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman