Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Mr X not having seen his daughter for 14 years and the Council having taken her into care without his consent. Only a court can decide disputed contact and residence arrangements for a child, so it would be reasonable for Mr X to use his right to go to court about recent matters. Historic matters are also late and there would be no good reason to exercise discretion to consider them even if they were not also matters that only a court could have resolved.

The complaint

1. Mr X said he had not seen his daughter for 14 years and that had taken her into care without his consent. He said the Council forged his signature and that claims the Council tried to contact him are a lie.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. The Local Government Act 1974 sets out our powers but also imposes restrictions on what we can investigate.
3. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint when someone could take the matter to court. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to expect the person to go to court. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(6)(c), as amended)
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)

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How I considered this complaint

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

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My assessment

7. Any recent dispute about where Mr X’s daughter lives and who she has contact with is a matter only a court can resolve. The Council’s actions related to that are closely linked with that matter.
8. Even if the matter of contact and residence was not for a court we would not investigate historic matters where Mr X has been aware of the absence of contact with his daughter for more than 12 months. Being aware of the matter, he could have approached us sooner.

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Final decision

9. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because:

• He has a right to go to court it would be reasonable to use to address the recent issue of contact. The matters complained of are closely linked to that issue; and
• Even if older matters were not affected by the same right, we would not investigate them because Mr X has been aware of them for several years and could have approached us much sooner.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman