London Borough of Lambeth (24 017 985)
Category : Children's care services > Looked after children
Decision : Closed after initial enquiries
Decision date : 21 Mar 2025
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about historic matters when Miss X was a child in the Council’s care. We could not carry out a robust investigation and we could not reach any view about the causes of the health problems to which Miss X refers.
The complaint
- Miss X said she was exposed to harm in Council care when she was a child. She said this has had a lifelong impact on her mental health. She wanted the Council to acknowledge neglect and to compensate her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
- 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 no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The complaint concerns historic matters. I accept Miss X’s statement that it has taken her many years to feel able to pursue these matters, and I do not therefore find she should have complained sooner.
- However, investigation by us of historic matters would be unlikely to lead to any robust conclusions. For example, we could not interview those involved as they are likely to have left the Council or died in the years since Miss X was a child. And we could not reach any view about the cause of Miss X’s poor mental health, even if the matters complained of were more recent. Only a medical professional could do so.
Final decision
- We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint because doing so would be unlikely to lead to the outcome Miss x is seeking, or to any worthwhile outcome.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman