Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s involvement with her child (C), who is now a young adult. Some of Mrs X’s concerns are too old to bring to us now. Other concerns relate to court proceedings and the law prevents us from investigating those issues.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains about the Council removing her child, C, from her care and placing them under a Special Guardianship Order, which has since failed. Mrs X is worried C has been homeless and at risk of harm. She believes C should be returned to her care.

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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)
3. We cannot investigate a complaint about the start of court action or what happened in court. (Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 5/5A, paragraph 1/3, as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), 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. The Council has explained to Mrs X that it cannot consider her complaints about the Special Guardianship Order (SGO) for C because this relates to events that occurred more than 12 months ago and were the subject of court proceedings. The Council has also advised Mrs X that it is working to support C as a Care Leaver. C has not given the Council permission to share information about them with Mrs X. The Council has tried to reassure Mrs X that C is safe and well.
8. We usually expect people to complain to us within 12 months of the events they are complaining about. Any issues Mrs X continues to have about the Council’s handling that occurred more than 12 months prior to her bringing this complaint to us are now late. We can exercise discretion to consider late complaints if there is good reason to do so. I have not enquired whether there is a good reason, because even if we investigated it is unlikely we could achieve a worthwhile outcome.
9. The law prevents us from investigating anything that has been the subject of court proceedings. This means we cannot look at the Council’s handling of the SGO for C because it will have been granted by the court.
10. It is unlikely C would give us permission to disclose information about them to Mrs X, given the wishes expressed to the Council. We are therefore unable to achieve anything more by investigating Mrs X’s concerns.

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Final decision

11. We will not investigate Mrs X’s late complaint because the law prevents us from investigating anything that has been the subject of court proceedings. We also cannot provide additional information where the person affected (in this case Mrs X’s child) has not given their consent.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman