London Borough of Hackney (21 016 635)

Category : Children's care services > Looked after children

Decision : Closed after initial enquiries

Decision date : 24 Mar 2022

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the care the Council gave a looked after child between 2009 and 2014. This is because we could not carry out a fair and meaningful investigation so long after the events complained about.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, who I will call Mr X, complains about the care he received when he was looked after during 2009 and 2014. He also complains about financial support he received upon leaving care.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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

  1. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
  2. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

  1. I will not investigate this complaint because of the time that has passed since the events complained about. We cannot investigate complaints over 12 months old without very good reason. In this case a considerable amount of time has passed meaning we could not carry out a fair and meaningful investigation. The difficulty investigating this case would be further compounded by a cyberattack which has devasted the Council’s systems and it remains that it still cannot access the majority of records, including Mr X’s care records.

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Final decision

  1. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because we could not carry out a fair and meaningful investigation so long after the events complained about.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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