Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about harm caused from the Council placing him in a children’s home in the 1960s. The Courts are better placed to decide if the Council should compensate Mr X.

The complaint

1. Mr X says the Council has wrongly refused a payment to him for being accommodated as a child in a home in which he suffered harm.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by Mr X and the Council’s replies to him.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Mr X says as a child in the 1960s the Council placed him in a privately run children’s home. He says he suffered harm while there. In / around 2021 the Council set up a payment scheme for children who had been harmed while in care. Mr X applied in August 2024. The Council rejected his application in September 2024. He complained.
6. The Council told him he was not eligible because the scheme only covered Council owned children homes not private run ones. It told him to apply to Court.
7. There is little prospect that we will achieve the result Mr X seeks. We do not recommend compensation only symbolic payments. Whether there is fault which caused Mr X harm is a matter in these circumstances more suitable for the Courts to decide.

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Final decision

8. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because the Courts are better placed to determine if the Council should compensate him.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman